


Radiant Swords

by ComfyDreamer



Series: The World of Territe [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Casual, Fantasy, Fluff, Writing Exercise, i need more sleep
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-05
Updated: 2018-06-05
Packaged: 2019-05-18 17:10:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 82,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14856798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ComfyDreamer/pseuds/ComfyDreamer
Summary: The unholy amalgamation of my restless dreams, a desire to practice my writing, and what was probably far too much anime and video games for my own good.In a tiny world ruled by titanic Gods, two youth who have become reckoned for their swordplay have been selected to go on an impossible quest. Facing many blessings and hardships along the way, Radiant Swords is simply a laid-back retelling of two friends’ adventure in a fantasy land.





	1. Prologue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So begins my first real work of original fiction and my first dedicated story.
> 
> Strangely enough, the entire plot of this story was derived from a single, vivid dream I had one night. I just woke up and documented it - and turns out it was enough for me write about, since I wanted to try writing an original fiction. I'm not sure if divine inspiration really exists, or I just need more sleep.
> 
> Fair warning - I didn't give this story a lot of depth. Think of it as more of a casual story more than anything. If anything about the plot seems far-fetched, blame my possibly sugar-induced dreams.
> 
> Also, shout-out to DA830 for inspiring me to start writing stories. Read his stuff, it's good. And if you read his stuff because I told you to, it'll also trigger him, so that's a plus.

It is the year 2518. Humankind has set aside their petty differences and united for the common good of a perfect, nigh-utopian future. Now technology has taken enormous strides, and things that man could once only dream of are a reality. Humans can soar through the air, pick things up without touching them, and even live in space.

One fateful day, a certain research center reported an amazing discovery. They had found a tiny planet-like rock barely more than fifty centimeters in diameter. Even stranger was the fact that the planet looked remarkably like Earth - even having what looked like a miniature sun orbiting it. So the researchers took the planet into their station and dubbed it “Territe”, as it was essentially a “little Earth”. They placed it into the room used to contain possible specimens of life, and began research.

They soon discovered a number of peculiar things. The planet was essentially a scaled-down Earth, consisting of a “supercontinent” within an ocean. The atmosphere was nearly identical, and the day/night cycle and seasonal cycles were almost the same. Most surprisingly, they soon discovered that they had found what the human race had long been looking for: sentient life.

Inhabiting the planet, standing out amongst a number of other microscopic lifeforms not much unlike Earth’s, were a species of humanoids. They looked almost exactly like humans save for their microscopic stature, and appeared to have set up primitive civilization like the humans of old had done. Marvelling at this discovery, they had reported back to Earth, and the impressed world leaders urged them to continue their research. Now with the OK signal to continue, they dubbed these tiny creatures “Nanosapients”, or “Nanos” for short.

As for the Nanos, what they saw was incredible. Now dominating their sky were numerous beings of incredible size, so vast that they couldn’t even see them clearly through the atmosphere of the planet. Several accidents made by the researchers held devastating consequences, terraforming the landscape of the planet. With such power and size, it was only appropriate that the Nanos would see them as what they were: Gods.

The researchers knew that, and decided that it would be easier to assume the mantles of deities than to tell the Nanos the truth. Over time, they taught the Nanos various human things, such as language, culture, construction, blacksmithing, farming, and more. Soon, the planet became an amalgamation of numerous cultures, but it was stuck in a medieval age. The researchers held back certain knowledge from the tiny civilizations, for reasons only they personally could know.

The Nanos learned quickly and revered the researchers as their deities. The researchers set up shrines containing microphones to communicate with them, set up sensors and satellites to monitor them, and released various machines to both test them and teach them.

It was inevitable that the researchers would start to exert their status as gods. Naming things such as families based on their own interests, arranging peculiar scenarios, even terraforming the landscape - Territe soon became a fantasy land, one that used to only exist in paracosms of their own creation.

Over time, it became painfully evident that there was more to the Nanos than what met the eye. They seemed to live much longer than humans, and they were extremely resilient. Most interesting of all, they could conduct some form of “magic” through their bodies, something only seen in fairy tales or stories. To the researchers, it meant one thing: they needed more than just observations now.

However, as the Nanos became more and more humanlike, the researchers felt the slightest pangs of guilt. They didn’t want to fully exert their power on the miniature species, so after much thought, one of their more fanatical scientists concocted a plan; one that would grant them what they wanted while hopefully masking their true intents…

 

Almost 200 years later, the third generation of researchers have taken over. The methods of taking care of the planet have remained the same through all three generations, out of fear that changing them would cause complete calamity on the planet. However, this year is going to be very, very different…

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Extra note is that I actually finished this story some time ago. I'll be dumping the entire story on Ao3 within a short period of time, but I'm still uploading chapters one at a time to format/add notes.
> 
> I may also be randomly editing parts of the story if I feel like it. Just a heads-up.


	2. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not exactly sure of what inspired the anime-MC names I gave the first couple of characters. My dream did direct me towards Japanese-based names for the main characters, so...
> 
> Also, pronounce Yuki's name with an elongated "u" sound (eg. "Yuuki") so that her name actually means something.
> 
> If my translations are off (which they probably are) then I'm sorry but I can't do much about it.

“Ken.”

“Uhh…”

“Ken! Wake up!”

The young boy’s eyes snapped open. “What? I wasn’t asleep, I swear!”

The shorter girl in front of him grinned, her eyes sparkling with mirth. “That’s a lie and you know it, Ken. Now hurry up, your dad wants you for something.”

Ken Hoshizora got out of the hammock and stretched, yawning. Apparently he had fallen asleep in the midst of his morning work, and now his short brown hair, which was already messy from lack of care, was even more unruly. He made a mental reminder to not make the hammock this comfy again, especially on a hot summer day like this one. Thank goodness Yuki was here to wake him up.

His best friend, Yuki no Hikari, stopped and turned around to grin at him. She had waist-length, flowing brown hair and gleaming eyes the same shade of navy as his. Their appearances were so similar that they had been mistaken for siblings on more than one occasion. They even wore identical clothes today: a navy t-shirt with beige pants.

“Ken? Are you coming?” she asked again. “If you have such a hard time waking up, then I’m going to tell your dad not to let you nap again.”

Ken just sighed and ran over to Yuki. She motioned him towards the small blacksmithing hut where his father was at work. Daichi Hoshizora was the best blacksmith in the entire town, and Ken was very proud to be both his son and apprentice.

“Ah, there you are, son.” Daichi said offhandedly while reading from some diagram. He looked almost exactly like an older version of his son. “Fell asleep again?”

“Well, I…” Ken began.

“Yeah, he did.” Yuki interrupted.

Daichi chuckled, and Ken just glared at Yuki. “Anyhow, you’ve done a lot of blacksmithing today, and I greatly appreciate your efforts. So, how about you two go on a foraging mission instead?”

Yuki perked up. Foraging was one of her part-time hobbies. “I’m in!”

“Sure thing!” Ken added.

“Alright, then! I’m always willing to give you two some quality time together.” Daichi told them, which caused both of them to nod simply. He just laughed at how dense they were and went back to reading the diagram. “Good luck on your expedition, you two.”

So, in a couple of minutes they were in the forest, collecting any fruit and berries they could find. Ken personally found it rather boring work, but since Yuki enjoyed it, he had decided to tag along.

He and Yuki had been friends for as long as they could remember. Their families were already very close on account of both of them having similar names (Daichi said the Gods called the language “Japanese”), and when they were born they had almost immediately became close friends on the account that they looked almost like gender-flipped versions of each other. Having grown up together, they were the best of friends, and – dare Ken say it – possibly even more than friends. They were almost like brother and sister.

“Ken, you’re being remarkably inefficient.” Yuki said, sauntering over with a full basket of fruits. “We need all the food we can get for Selection Day tomorrow.”

Ah…Selection Day. Ken had almost forgotten about it, which was a pretty impressive feat considering that it involved planet-sized Gods choosing 2 people to embark on an impossible quest. He decided not to tell Yuki that he had indeed forgotten it. “Oh…yeah, that’s right.”

“Hey,” Yuki asked, “Do you ever wonder what the quest is for? Or why the Gods always select two people every year?”

Ken shrugged. “I don’t know. The logic of the Gods is probably beyond our understanding or something strange like that. All that we know is that nobody has ever returned from it.”

Yuki seemed deep in thought, so Ken just decided to pick more fruits so that she wouldn’t be able to bother him about his inefficiency anymore.

 

After about an hour, both of them had full baskets and had deposited them on the table over at Yuki’s place. Yuki and her family, namely her mother Ai, were expert chefs and farmers, so they had decided to leave the food to them. However, when the pair got to Yuki’s house, they found it empty save for a single note that Ai had gone on an errand.

“Oh, your mom is out, eh?” Daichi asked, strolling up to them. “That’s a pity, she’s the best chef we have. We’ll have to cook something up by ourselves, it seems.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll cook!” Ken and Yuki said in unison.

Daichi fell silent, and the pair looked at each other.

“No, I’ll cook!” they said in unison again.

More awkward silence.

Ken scratched his head. “Um, Yuki, don’t you have anything else you want to do? I’d be happy to cook dinner tonight…”

“I am not busy!” Yuki said exasperatedly. “And I am perfectly able to cook dinner!”

As the two teens argued, Daichi smiled and shook his head. This was not the first time his son and his friend had argued over their duties, and he already knew how this was going to end.

 

“Hyah!”

“Take this!”

As spectators gathered around to watch in awe, the clanging of metal echoed through the air. Many had heard of the skill of the two youths already known as the Radiant Swords, but very few had seen it in action. Now, as Yuki and Ken performed a dance of death with each other in front of their town fountain, they could see their swordplay up close and personal.

Ken panted, his steel broadsword gleaming in the setting sun that was being refracted through the spray of water next to him. Yuki stood about two meters away, holding her katana in a guarding position. The two charged again and locked blades.

Yuki twisted her blade to try and disarm Ken, but he leapt back before performing a deadly lunge, which Yuki dodged. She swung her katana in a wide arc, and Ken blocked before retaliating with a downward slash. Yuki jumped back, and Ken sliced a huge gash in the ground.

“You ready to give up yet?” Ken asked, a grin on his face.

Yuki laughed. “You wish!”

They got up close and launched a flurry of slashes and parries, so fast that the audience could barely see their weapons save for two grey blurs. Both of them dodged and attacked like their lives depended on it, which was strange because they were just duelling to see who would have the responsibility of cooking dinner.

Yuki lunged, and Ken barely avoided being scratched by the flat end of her blade. Since they were playing to first hit, he had to treat every blow like a killing one. He pivoted on one foot and, while Yuki was reeling from her attack, he struck with a sideways slash. The steel katana flew out of the girl’s hands and clattered to the cobblestones below.

Yuki backed up in shock, and Ken quickly took the opportunity and lunged. Right as the blade was about to strike her chestplate, however, she did an acrobatic backflip and kicked Ken’s sword right out of his hands. She landed a few meters away, and the sword clattered to the ground behind her.

The audience gasped. Ken groaned and stared down his opponent. His sword was behind her. Her sword was behind him. He could already see how this was going to end.

In total unison, the two of them leapt forward, soaring past each other and rolling to a halt in front of their weapons. As Ken grabbed his sword, turned around, and slashed horizontally, Yuki did the exact same thing at the exact same time. Their swords locked together, each of their blades a mere three centimeters from the other’s neck.

Both of them grit their teeth, trying to overpower the other. Sparks danced from the edges of the swords as they ground into each other. With absolute finality, both of them put one final push into their strikes, the flat ends of their blades tapping the other’s neck at the exact same time.

The crowd stared. Both of the young fighters were breathing heavily. Then, they dropped their weapons, backed off, and bowed to each other.

The crowd went wild, rushing into the stadium to commend them on their swordplay. Both of them sheepishly grinned and answered questions from their fellow villagers. After the crowd died down a bit, they shook hands and agreed to cook together.

“Heh, now everyone knows where you two got their title from, eh?” Daichi asked, patting Ken on the back.

His son just sighed happily. “I guess they do.”

Really, though, their title of “Radiant Swords” was in part due to the fact that their names both had some kind of light-based connotation. While it was also because of their swordsmanship, the villagers had decided to give the Starry Sword and the Light of Courage an equally light-based title.

“That was so close! We need to do that again sometime.” Yuki said cheerily.

Ken allowed himself a chuckle. “Why, so I can beat you like all the other times?”

“Hey! I’m getting better, Ken! Soon I’ll be stronger than you!” came the annoyed response.

Ken just smiled. “How many months ago was the first time you said that?”

“…Please, just shut up, I’m begging you.”

 

The next morning, Ken and Yuki were chatting excitedly over breakfast as Ai no Hikari wrote down a list of food items they were out of and making final preparations for the Selection banquet.

“Your daughter did some fine cooking last night, Ai. That soup they made was really something. You must have taught her well!” Daichi said, lounging in a chair.

Yuki blushed a bit before Ai could even say anything. “Aw, it was nothing. Ken helped a lot too!”

“You’re the one who wants to become a chef when you grow up.” Ken said.

Ai just smiled. “Sometimes my daughter learns so fast that I could swear that I already taught her everything I teach her.”

Daichi arched his eyebrows. “Does she really now?”

As the two adults talked to each other, Ken decided to ask a question. “Hey, Yuki.”

“What?”

“Do you ever wish you could see a Brimstone Drake?”

Yuki turned a bit pale. The mere mention of those creatures unsettled her a bit. “Uh...why? They breathe fire, their scales are permanently superheated, they attack everything they see...why would I want to see that? If I ever saw one, I would be toast.”

Ken shrugged. “I think that such a creature would be really magnificent. Dangerous for sure, but sometimes the deadliest creatures are the most interesting.”

Yuki chewed a piece of fruit. “Fair point.”

There was silence for a few seconds. Then, Ken decided to ask another question: “Do you know what the Prismatic Phoenix is?”

Yuki laughed. “Of course I do! It’s that immortal rainbow-colored bird that supposedly brings good fortune to all who see it…or something like that.”

“You basically got the idea.” Ken told her. “What would you do if you found it?”

Yuki grinned. “I would shoot it down, cook it, and eat it.”

Ken blanched. “What?”

“That’s exactly what I would do! Such an old and rare creature must have exquisite tasting meat. If I preserve its core, it might even live!” Yuki told him cheerily.

Ken just shook his head. “Where do you get all of these insane ideas from?”

A couple hours later, the Selection ceremony was underway. The Gods had already told them that the Selection would take place in this village, and everyone was gathering at the local shrine. It was only a matter of time before the Gods appeared to make the choice of who would embark on the impossible quest that nobody had survived.

 

Tobias sighed, putting on his crimson jacket. He had woken up rather early today and realized that it was, indeed, April the 20th, or what the Nanos called “Selection Day”. While it was true that he once enjoyed this day, now every Selection was an action that greatly weighed on his conscience.

He looked outside his window on the space station he called home, gazing into the vast emptiness of space. It had been such a long time since they had found the tiny, Earth-like planet dubbed Territe floating through space. Tobias himself was the oldest one of his current research team: having studied the planet for more than 30 years now, he was now almost 60 years old, with appropriately greying hair. Never before would he have thought it would be possible for a tiny planet just like Earth to exist. He thought that this could only happen in fiction, in stories written by authors with no scientific grasp of what they were writing. But happened it had, and he had been forced to adapt his worldview accordingly.

He entered a passcode into a keypad, and a glass door slid open to reveal a large, empty grey room with a small, glowing bluish orb. Orbiting it was a smaller orange sphere that glowed with intense heat and light.

This was Territe, the planet that their study subjects, the Nanosapients, lived on. The planet could not have been more than fifty centimeters in diameter, which meant that the denizens of said planet were beyond microscopic. Only through cutting-edge technology were his research team even able to see them properly. As he gazed upon the planet, small enough to hold with both hands, he wondered what the Nanos felt at this moment: to gaze upon a being titanic enough to be called a God. Then he shook his head, walked closer to the planet, and cleared his throat.

“Greetings, denizens of Territe.” Tobias began, speaking slowly and softly as to not cause any damage to the miniscule civilizations that peppered the planet. “In case you do not know me, I am Tobias. I am here for the sole reason of overseeing this Selection, as I have delegated that honor to another.”

Tobias motioned to the door, where a short girl stood in a similar red jacket. May was her name, and she was their newest and youngest member of the team. Her eyes, obscured by square spectacles, were filled with nervousness. “Um…are you sure, sir?”

Tobias simply nodded, and May slowly entered the room. She shuffled up to the tiny planet, where she stared down at it in awe. Tobias smiled at her and motioned with his hand. “Go ahead, introduce yourself.”

May slowly opened her mouth. “Hi! My name is-“

Tobias quickly slapped a hand over her mouth before dragging her to the side. Slowly but firmly, he said in a low voice: “May, I’m going to have to ask you to speak quieter since we’re not using the sound funneler. This is a fragile civilization. Even what you just said could have decimated countless houses.”

May nodded vigorously, and Tobias removed his hand from her mouth. She walked back over to the planet and whispered: “Hi…I’m May. I’m here to select the pair that will be embarking on this quest…or something like that.”

She tried to see her witnesses, but the only things she could see were the tiny specks that were villages.

Tobias, in the meantime, was running checks using the various cameras hidden around the planet. Luckily, nothing had been damaged seriously, but all the denizens of the planet had been dazed by the burst of sound. Taking a tablet, he pulled May away and showed her the tablet. “May, this is a list of everyone that lives in the village of Yume. I’ve already gone over how you’re supposed to choose the pair, and you’ve watched the citizens of Yume extensively over the last couple of days.”

May looked over the list carefully. “Hmm…this is a rather hard choice. But I’ll just choose…” she pointed at a spot on the tablet. “Those two.”

Tobias nodded. “I gave the choice to you. Now you may announce it.”

May walked back to the planet. “I have made my decision. The two of you that will be embarking on this quest are…Ken Hoshizora and Yuki no Hikari.”

Tobias stepped forward again. “The decision is made. Your mission is to reach the land known as Electi Terram through any means, although you must travel together at all times. You will have two days to prepare for your quest.  Best of luck to you both.”

And with that, both of the researchers exited the room without another word.

 

When the two of them got to Yuki’s house, the first thing the girl did was collapse on her bed and burst into tears.

Ken watched on, a sinking feeling building in his chest. His more emotionally fragile friend had obviously been holding back tears for the entire journey home. He was more controlled, but he still had trouble remembering everything: the booming voices from above that had chosen them for the impossible quest, the clamor and reassurance from their fellow villagers, and them excusing themselves from the banquet to run back home.

“So, that’s it, huh?” Ken muttered quietly. “In two days, we have to embark on a quest that nobody has ever returned from…”

Yuki continued sobbing. “Damn it…I was looking forward to the future! We were going to have so many good times…and I guess that’s it then. Now we won’t even live to next year!”

“Whoa, Yuki, nobody said we were going to die.” Ken told her. “We might be the first ones to beat this quest.”

Yuki sniffled and looked up at him with teary eyes. “But still…what’s the likelihood of that? It’s not like we can refuse a direct order from the Gods! Just face it, Ken, we’re probably just going to die out there!”

“Hey, calm down. This is admittedly a pretty bad situation. Sure, we might die. But I see this as an opportunity! We can explore unknown lands together, see everything this world has to offer!” Ken told her enthusiastically. “We could experience things that others could only dream of! There is so much for a quest to offer us, why can’t we just think about those good things instead of the bad?”

Yuki managed a small grin. “Ken, you really know how to think optimistically. You’ve really sold me the idea, and I thank you for that.”

“Heh. You were the one who always said to always have fun during times of adversity. And even if I die…at least I’ll die fighting alongside a friend, right?”

“You bet.” Yuki reassured him. “I’ll stick by you until the end, whether our end is a happy one or a bitter one. That’s something I can promise you...but promise you that we’ll try our absolute best. Promise me that we’ll expend every last bit of our power to overcome the odds and earn a happy ending.”

Ken smiled. “You didn’t even need to ask. Of course I will.”

The two of them looked at each other and smiled. “Well,” Yuki asked, “Do you want to start packing?”

“I’m ready when you are, Yuki.”

 

The two of them had a silent dinner together with their family members.

The silence that permeated their meal was unsettling. Both children knew all too well that their parents wanted to say something, anything to make them feel better. Yet they could not think of anything to say. Daichi was uncharacteristically silent, and Ai looked like she was holding back tears for the entire meal.

Ken had decided to sleep over at Yuki’s place that night, and nobody had any objections. Both parents knew that their children only had two days to enjoy, so they decided not to interrupt their time. As for Yuki herself, she was glad to have some company. Despite what Ken had told her, she was still very nervous for the quest.

Yuki’s room only had one bed, and although Ken had offered to sleep on the floor, Yuki had insisted that they share the bed. Normally, this would be considered a bit strange, but neither of them knew or cared about the implications. They saw it as perfectly normal, something that good friends would do on a regular basis.

As both of them lay on the bed, Yuki wasn’t making any progress going to sleep. Her eyes were wide and observant, surveying the room for some unknown inconsistency that likely didn’t even exist. Ken noticed this, and decided to start a conversation.

“Yuki?”

“Yeah, Ken? What is it?”

Ken sighed. “You know, I’ve been thinking...why do the Gods even need us to go on the quest?”

Yuki was interested. “What do you mean by that?”

“Well, there must be _some_ reason why they select two people each year to go on this impossible quest.” Ken went on. “Why do you think they do it?”

Yuki thought about that for a moment. “Maybe they want to see how we do in these kinds of situations. The might want to see if we are worthy or something!”

Ken laughed. “That sounds like something out of a story.”

“Hey, you didn’t say it had to be realistic!”

“Fair point.” Ken replied.

Yuki thought again. “What if the Gods are actually spiteful, and they just send us on these quests so they can watch us suffer? Or what if they actually _feed_ on our pain?”

“Uh...okay. That got dark really fast.” Ken said, mildly disturbed. “You can’t just go around saying that about the Gods. They’ve helped us so much over the last 200 years! What would make you think that they would be...you know, what you just said?”

Yuki shrugged. “It was just a wild idea.”

Ken got an idea. “Maybe they need us to do something that they can’t. Perhaps it’s so hard to do that nobody has returned?”

“What could we do that a God couldn’t?” Yuki asked as if it was obvious.

“The Gods are powerful, but they’re also _huge_ , Yuki.” Ken told her. “Maybe there are some things that would specifically require Nanos to do.”

“Like what?”

Ken thought. “Maybe...there’s a hidden treasure at Electi Terram, too small for the Gods to find and guarded by vicious monsters! The Gods can’t get to it without destroying too much of the land, so maybe they got us to do it instead!”

Yuki giggled. “Ken, that was even more unrealistic than my guess.”

Ken sighed, although his smile betrayed him. “Well, you get my idea, right?”

“Heh...that’s...right…” Yuki mumbled, drowsiness overcoming her.

Ken yawned as well. The conversation had calmed Yuki, but it had made both of them equally sleepy. It wasn’t a big deal, since it was pretty late anyways.

“Okay, I’m going to bed now.” Ken told his friend as he stretched out and went to sleep.

“G’night, Ken.” Yuki mumbled again as she curled up and immediately fell asleep.

 

2 days later, in the morning, the Radiant Swords were all set for the quest.

“You sure you didn’t miss anything?” Ken called to Yuki, who was shoving things into a bag.

Yuki just looked over and shook her head. Both of them had dressed in their standard combat clothes: light metal armor worn over their classic navy shirts and beige pants, along with brown combat boots. They were loading all the things they needed onto two odd, quadrupedal animals called Steeds, which would be what they would ride on their voyage. The Steeds had belonged to Ai’s farm, and she had given them to the pair for their quest. The pair of animals made a strange whining sound and pawed at the ground.

Meanwhile, Daichi embraced his son. “Ken, I don’t care whether you beat this quest or not, you will always be the bravest person I’ll ever know, just for having the courage to take this quest. And while your mother Sachi is all the way in another town, I’m sure wherever she is, she’s as proud of you as I am.”

Ken bowed respectfully. “Thanks a lot, dad. I love you.”

Ai was doing the same with her daughter. “Yuki, I just want to wish you good luck. It pains me to say goodbye to you, but we can’t let ourselves get held back by the sad things in life. I want you to remember that.”

Ai continued with tears in her eyes. “Your father Haru sent a message to me from his hunting trip to wish you good luck. I’m sure he’s just as worried as I am. But just try your best and remember to stay happy in whatever you do. You’ll always be a hero in my eyes.”

Yuki couldn’t take it and burst into tears again. “Thanks so much, mom! I love you!”

And after some more farewells, they jumped onto their Steeds and rode out of the village to the applause of everyone in it.

“Well, here goes.” Ken told Yuki, who was riding slightly behind him. Yuki just nodded.

They both rode for a minute or so, but once they were about to exit the village they heard someone calling for them. Ken looked back and saw two young children, one with short golden hair and one with longer hair the same color as her partner, waving and running towards them. He made a hand gesture to stop Yuki and dismounted. “Hey there,” he asked the kids, who were panting. “What’re you doing here?”

The children looked up with delight. He recognized them as Stacey and Lucas, two eleven-year-old siblings that lived near him and had sparring matches with him and Yuki a lot. Lucas’ short, golden hair gleamed in the sunlight as he nervously paced. “Um…we saw that we were leaving, and wanted to say goodbye to you.”

Stacey shook her head. “Lucas, come on.” She then looked at Ken. “We wanted to duel you one last time before you left.”

“Eh?” Yuki asked, walking up to them. “Well, why didn’t you say so? I would love to have one last duel with you guys!”

Ken shrugged. “Sure thing!”

The two were ecstatic. As they distanced themselves, the children drew their shortswords. “I’m warning you, we’ve gotten pretty good since the last time we had a duel!” Lucas exclaimed.

Stacey’s eyes gleamed. “He’s right. We’ve practiced quite a bit.”

“Really?” Yuki smiled. “Well, show us what you’ve got!”

“Okay!” Lucas yelled. “Let’s do this!”

Both kids lunged at their targets with surprising speed for their age. As they swung their blades, the two older youth didn’t even try to block the strikes. The younger children’s attacks simply struck their opponents' armor with a loud clank.

Lucas and Stacey were flabbergasted. Ken and Yuki just smiled at them.

“What...what was that about?” Lucas stammered.

“Well, we might not be coming back.” Yuki told him. “We thought it would be neat if you two could finally tell everyone you beat us. Think of it as a parting gift, okay?”

Stacey bowed her head. “That’s incredibly nice of you two. Thanks!”

“That’s sweet and all, but…” Lucas began, “I really wanted to actually fight you two.”

“My brother is right.” Stacey added. “We want the feeling of a real last battle with you.”

The Radiant Swords, impressed by the siblings’ fighting spirit, agreed. Distancing themselves once more, they readied their blades and beckoned for their younger opponents to make the first move.

Neither siblings were willing to waste any time.

Stacey charged at Ken, her blade nearly scraping the earth as she swung it upwards at her opponent. Ken blocked the swing, only for Stacey to retaliate with a furious series of slashes that Ken also parried. Realizing her strikes were being blocked, Stacey stood on guard for a moment to assess the situation, then lunged at Ken when she thought his guard was down. Ken blocked her thrust with the flat of his blade, and the recoil sent Stacey skidding back about a meter.

Meanwhile, Lucas was going absolutely ham on his opponent. Swinging wildly and trying to strike from a different direction every time, he launched a furious assault on Yuki, who stood on guard while blocking his attacks. Groaning, he tried to displace her sword using a series of focused slashes, but the attack accomplished next to nothing as Yuki refused to budge from her guarding position.

Lucas realized that their opponents hadn’t attacked at all, having simply guarded for the whole match. “Aw, come on! Stop going easy on us!”

“Lucas, I need you to stop that.” Stacey said hurriedly as she foresaw the poor result that her brother’s prodding would likely cause.

Lucas wouldn’t listen. “Stop guarding and actually fight us!”

Ken looked at his friend. “You want to accept their request?”

Yuki smiled wryly. “I’m up for it.”

The Radiant Swords suddenly entered an attack position, and as the siblings swore they saw their opponents’ eyes glow for a second, they realized how bad of a situation they had gotten themselves into.

Lucas paled. “Uhhhhh…”

A bead of sweat trickled down Stacey’s face. “Aw, crap.”

 

Thirty seconds later, Lucas and Stacey lay sprawled groaning on the ground, their swords lying defeated in the dust.

The Radiant Swords rode out of town. “Well, that was fun!” Ken told his companion. “What would you say?”

“Heh. I feel kind of bad for them.” Yuki said with a somewhat sad look. “That wasn’t really fair.”

“Hey, they improved a lot.” Ken retorted. “Shame it’s the last time we’ll see them.”

Yuki just smiled at him. “You should practice what you preach. Focus on the good things in life, Ken! Like you told me!”

“Heh...I’ll make sure to.”

As the two of them laughed and talked together, the sunrise cast a brilliant fiery glow across the cloud-dotted sky. The adventure of the Radiant Swords had begun.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My earliest chapter (written even before the prologue), and personally one of my less adequate ones. Bear with me.
> 
> Ken's full name is also supposed to mean something along the lines of "Starry Sky Sword" rather than "Starry Sword", but I decided to cut his title a bit short. I hope nobody minds that too much.
> 
> Also, don't expect too much romance. I'm garbage at writing that kind of stuff and quite frankly don't like it. I tried to make my main characters share a mostly platonic (but very close) relationship.
> 
> While I would like to remind anyone reading this that this is my first story and as such not the best, some advice and criticism would be appreciated. I would like to use that to improve any stories I may write in the future.


	3. Chapter 2

Tobias and May entered the main meeting room of the space station, where the rest of their research team was situated.

“Well, how was it?” a tall woman named Diana asked.

Tobias simply nodded. “Everything has gone as planned. The two children have embarked on their journey already.”

Another suit-clad man looked at Tobias through thick spectacles. “Tell me, Tobias, is there a specific reason that you chose those two? I just wanted to ask.”

“Matheus, you of all people should know that I didn’t choose them, since I told you at least twice.” Tobias told him. “The one you should be asking is May here.”

A shorter, sweater-wearing man in the corner, Michael, snickered while an amused light glinted in his eyes. “It’s not like you to forget things, Matheus.” he said, earning a disgruntled sigh from the older man. “Well, May, how about it? Why did you choose those two kids?”

“Um…those two are really cute together!” May exclaimed. When Tobias put his head in his hands, May hesitantly added “And their combat abilities far exceed all other Nanos in their village! Of course!”

“I’m not sure if allowing your emotions cloud your judgement is a good idea, May.” Matheus said in a bored tone. “We want answers, not entertainment.”

Michael smirked. “You sure about that? I for one don’t mind having some less…logical decisions, as you would put it. What’s so wrong with them?”

“For once, I agree with Michael.” Diana spoke up.

“Hey, you just agreed with me last night on what show to watch!” Michael protested.

Tobias put his hands in a “stop” pose. “Everyone quiet down. The deed is done, and now all of you must perform your tasks as assigned. However, I will admit…every one of these decisions weighs on my conscience more and more.”

“Hm? Why is that?” Michael asked. “Personally, I find it a pretty good learning experience.”

Tobias gazed out the window. “We told ourselves that we were doing this for science, that we could get away with playing gods because they weren’t human. But now, they’re getting smarter and smarter, and closer to our definition of human. Is what we’re doing to the Nanos what we would do to another person?”

There was silence in the room. Then, Matheus spoke up. “Don’t feel too bad. This is for science. As one of my idols once said: as long as it’s for the greater good, there’s no harm in playing God so long as you’re good at it.”

“And how much do you truly believe that, Matheus?” Tobias said with a hint of frustration.

Matheus fell silent.

Tobias took a deep breath. “Alice, you’ve been awfully quiet this whole time. Is there anything you want to say?”

The blonde girl in the corner shuffled nervously, her sky-blue eyes looking everywhere but at Tobias. “I’m terribly sorry, sir. Talking about these kind of topics makes me a bit uneasy.”

The older man simply nodded. Everyone had the right to be a bit uncomfortable about this subject. Especially Alice, who was the youngest and most inexperienced researcher besides May.

“Well, if there is nothing else that needs to be addressed, this meeting is dismissed.” Tobias told them all as he exited the room, his mind clouded with thoughts of right and wrong.

 

It had been 2 days since Ken and Yuki had departed for their quest. They had made several stops at nearby towns, but now they were beginning to enter areas where civilization was scarce. They had to be very careful from now on: enemies stalked the land, and nobody would come to save them if they were in trouble.

“Aw, come on, you could have at least gone easy on me!” Yuki complained loudly.

Ken just smiled. “Whatever tries to kill us won’t go easy on us, Yuki. Get used to that.”

Yuki just sulked, still being upset about losing her first duel with Ken since the quest began. The two of them had been treating it as a normal trip: just talking and visiting nearby towns. They were managing their possible death sentence with surprising ease.

Suddenly, Ken stopped. “Yuki, stop. I feel something…”

“Hm? What is it?” Yuki asked fearfully.

At first, nothing happened. Then, a massive finger swept away the cloud layer above them to reveal a titanic face with long golden hair and striking blue eyes, taking up the entire sky. The being wore a dark blue headband on the front of her hair.

Ken had never really seen this goddess before, but he vaguely remembered her name. He dropped to one knee as Yuki did the same. “Miss Alice.”

The face of the deity tilted slightly as strange symbols appeared in front of her left eye. She raised a hand to her face, gripping a cylindrical silver object in her hand. As the pair watched in awe, a blue light emanated from the object, growing closer and brighter with each passing second. As the two shielded their eyes, the light faded, and they realized that there were two strange objects in front of them. Upon closer inspection they appeared to be some kind of headgear, except they consisted of a thin black frame with a strange rod extending from the front.

The goddess made a motion with her hand. She clearly wanted them to put them on, but for some bizarre reason she would not speak.

As the pair hesitantly donned the headgear, a crackling sound was heard. Then, a somewhat loud but soft voice resonated through them. “Greetings.”

“Wow, you can talk to us like this?” Yuki asked, her eyes gleaming with awe.

The goddess smiled from above. “Yes, indeed I can. My name is Alice, and I, like the others, have been tasked with watching over you two as you undertake your quest. Normally, you would have to use any shrines at your disposal to communicate with us, but obviously there aren’t too many shrines around. My other option was to talk louder, which would likely cause great pain to you and anyone else listening. However, with these devices, me and the others can talk to you two privately, without causing any harm to the others living here. Think of them like miniature shrines. Wait, no, they _are_ miniature shrines, really. Although, to be totally honest, I have no idea how they even work at that size. As for privacy, don’t worry. For localized conversations, we usually use a device that limits the sight of us to the participants alone.”

“That’s really considerate of you, miss!” Ken exclaimed.

“Anything I can do to help.” Alice told them. “Ken Hoshizora and Yuki no Hikari. Heh. Classic Tobias. Those names sound like they were taken straight out of an anime.”

The duo was dumbfounded. “A what?”

“Never mind. Now, I can’t help you too much, nor can I directly interact with you. But my first words of advice are to prepare yourselves.”

Ken and Yuki blanched. “What?”

“I overheard the others talking, and I have detected a group of Mechanoids heading your way. You would be best advised to get ready for combat.” Alice said, her face slowly receding from the sky. “Best of luck to you both.”

Right after she said that, the trees to their right rustled and several glowing visors appeared.

The two of them just looked at each other and drew their swords.

What were their so-called “foes”? They were the Mechanoids, a “species” of advanced robots sent by the Gods in order to test the might of their species. They were extremely dangerous and attacked on sight, but if defeated were a valuable source of metal, something that was somewhat difficult for the denizens to get.

As expected, several metallic shapes emerged from the gloom. Daichi had educated Ken quite a bit on the Mechanoids - being a metalworker, he sometimes fought them. Ken managed to identify then as Sentinels, which were tall humanoids covered in light plate armor. Their red visors gleamed as they clenched their fists and glowing red blades jutted out of their arms.

The two of them entered a defensive stance. It was about fifteen to two, and neither of them was willing to risk anything against a foe they had never fought before.

The Sentinels apparently didn’t care for their caution, and charged.

Ken met their first attack with his blade, and a clang echoed through the area. The shorter boy grit his teeth as the Sentinel loomed over him, pressing its twin blades into his. Sparks were flying from the metal sword, and Ken realized that the blade was slowly turning orange.

He jumped back, his blade hissing. “Those swords can melt metal! Yuki, don’t touch them for too long!”

“Got it!” Yuki yelled, delivering a series of swift slashes, which the Sentinel she was fighting parried. She attacked from any angle she could manage, only touching her adversary’s glowing blades for a second at a time. But as she slashed, it became evident that the Sentinel’s twin swords were more effective than her one katana. “Ken! I need help!”

Ken yelled and leapt at Yuki’s enemy, bringing his sword down on its head as it was distracted. The blade went about halfway through its head, and the machine sputtered a bit before turning its attention to Ken. As it raised its swords, Yuki precisely slashed through a chink in its armor, amputating its torso. The downed bot collapsed and spontaneously combusted.

“Ken, is that supposed to happen?” Yuki asked as she backed up from the next wave of robots.

The boy just shrugged. “I think so? My dad said Mechanoids sometimes explode when destroyed. I don’t really know why though.”

The two of them fought hard, pairing up to take care of the Sentinels to make up for their smaller numbers. The machines were tougher than them but not as smart, and the duo exploited that as much as possible by attacking from different angles, aiming for weak points, and the like. Soon the squadron of Sentinels had been reduced to a measly trio of Sentinels.

Yuki pressed on, swinging her katana to keep them at bay. “We’ve got them now!”

“Yuki, don’t overextend!” Ken yelled.

Yuki looked at him while decapitating the Sentinel she was fighting. “Come on, what’s the worst that could happen?”

Ken yelped as the trees they were standing next to exploded in a flash of flames. As he backed up, two huge bulky shapes emerged from the smoke.

“That could happen?” Ken asked exasperatedly.

Yuki just grit her teeth and entered a battle stance.

The shapes emerged fully. One was a massive machine that stood over twice Ken’s height. It had a glowing green visor, thick grey metal plating all over its body, and huge arms that ended in black claws. On its back were two odd protrusions that crackled with electricity.

The other was a giant, white, flying, vaguely draconic machine. Two wings that shot out bluish flames helped it overcome gravity as its blue visor scanned the area. Where it should have had arms, it had odd weapons that looked like cylinders composed of smaller tubes. A strange, smoking box swung around on a prehensile black tail as it retracted back into the machine.

“Crap.” Yuki whispered. “What are these?”

Ken shook his head. He had only heard of the Mechanoids from his parents’ accounts, and he had never heard anything like these two.

The bulkier one raised an arm, and its claw retracted into its forearm as the cavity inside it began to glow bright green.

Ken tackled Yuki to the ground. “Look out!”

Both of them hit the ground as the machine fired an enormous blast of greenish lightning that singed the hairs off of Ken’s head. When the beam struck, it created an enormous fiery explosion. The dirt where the beam hit was now a smoldering crater.

“Holy…Ken, we should get out of here!” Yuki yelled over the sound of the flames.

Ken just grit his teeth. “Those things won’t let us leave. Not without a fight.”

Yuki shrugged and hefted her sword. Together, they charged.

 

As the two of them ran towards the bulkier robot, it fired another blast that Yuki jumped away from before it could melt her face off. Ken went in for a hit, and the machine unfurled its other claw before striking at the boy. He deftly dodged the strike and attacked with a sideways stroke that bit into its armor. The machine whirred as it registered the damage and struck again.  Ken managed to block its claws with his blade, but the impact forced him to his knees. He yelled and pulled aside before slashing repeatedly, carving several gashes in its armor.

The robot struck over and over again, but Ken was beginning to find a flaw in its attacks: namely, that they were rather slow. He found that if he darted around, he could just slice away at it while avoiding all its strikes. Admittedly, he wasn’t sure if his sword would be able to penetrate its armor, but since his and Yuki’s blades were considered the best swords in their village, he had some confidence.

Ken continued to circle the machine, and gradually he began to chip away at its armor plating. But while he was hacking and slashing, Yuki yelled from behind him. “Look out!”

“What?” Ken yelled back, only to turn towards the robot. It had extended the two protrusions on its back, which were now glowing a brilliant yellow. “Oh, no.”

Ken yelped and jumped back just as the machine released a massive discharge of energy - so strong that it disintegrated all the grass that was in the nearby area. He gasped as he realized that had he not jumped as fast as he did, he would have been blasted into dust.

The robot raised its arms, the devices on its back crackling as if to challenge them.

“Crap, we can’t get too close to that thing!” Ken yelled.

Yuki grit her teeth. “What now?”

The aerial robot that had hovered idly until now suddenly extended its wings and flew towards them. Raising its arms, they began to spin wildly, and a barrage of blue projectiles spewed out of them, tearing up the ground. The two of them screamed and ducked behind a rock as the bombardment continued. When Ken peered out from behind the rock, he saw the machine unfurl its tail and launch something from it.

“Get away!” he yelled as he tackled Yuki to the side. Less than a second later, the rock they were hiding behind was demolished by the attack. Panting, he looked back as a smoldering crater had replaced where the rock had been.

Yuki looked up and gasped as the larger robot bore down on them with a downwards strike. She barely blocked it with her katana, but she felt the force nearly shatter her bones as she strained under the weight of the behemoth. Elsewhere, Ken was running in circles to avoid being shredded by the hail of energy rounds the flying Mechanoid was dishing out, while jumping to dodge the rocket salvos being thrown out at a rapid pace. He ducked behind another tree as another salvo tore a crater in the ground.

“Ken!” Yuki yelled from her position. “We can’t fight them using only swords. We’ll have to use other means to beat those two.”

Ken blanched. “You don’t mean…we’ve never tried that on such a scale before!”

“Well, it’s either this or we get killed!” Yuki screamed as she rolled from under her offender’s arm to avoid the searing discharge it released. She got to her feet and raised an arm. Glowing red runes appeared in front of her hand, forming the shape of a hexagram as her eyes glowed blue.

What was she doing? Yuki was actually attempting to channel her magical abilities. All members of their species possessed innate magical powers, but only some were able to utilize them to their fullest extent. Yuki had been practicing ever since she was able to, and as such her magical prowess was the best in the town – even surpassing that of Ken’s.

She made a sweeping motion with her hand, and a blast of flame shot out of the glowing runes. The fire struck the advancing machine and exploded, only for it to angrily sweep away the flames and break into a sprint.

Yuki yelped and began rapidly lobbing fireballs, each of which slowed the robot down a bit but did nothing to fully halt its advance.

“It’s not working!” Ken yelled as he blocked a bullet from the flying Mechanoid.

Yuki grit her teeth. “Even that wasn’t enough? I should have known better, nobody in this world has learned to master magical powers except for…the Magnum.”

Ken shuddered at the mention of the Magnum. Those people were the most revered and feared practitioners of magic in all the land. They were also very secretive and rather dangerous: stories had been told where travellers wandered into their territories and never returned…or at least, never returned unharmed.

The boy jumped next to his friend and raised his hand as well. Another red rune, this time with an 8-pointed star, formed and began spewing fireballs at the flying robot. One hit its mark, causing a huge explosion, but the machine continued towards them. While he was focusing on the flying one, he failed to notice that the one on the ground had gotten close enough to enact a brutal swing of its arm. The hit connected with a sickening thud, and both of them flew across the field and landed in a heap.

Ken gasped and wheezed, almost certain he had broken a bone or two. Yuki looked extremely drained from her magical exertion: her eyes were much duller than usual and she could barely prop herself up.

The flying Mechanoid quickly swooped in and hovered above them before extending its tail. With an almost mocking finality, it aimed its tail-mounted weapon directly at them.

The two of them hugged each other tightly and prepared for the worst.

 

“We’ve got to help them!” Alice exclaimed as quietly as she could.

Tobias just shook his head. They had been observing the pair of them fight the first group of Mechanoids, and Alice had been getting more and more concerned over the course of the battle. Now, as the pair of Nanos were about to have their lives extinguished, Alice was more than ready to directly intervene in order to save them.

The younger girl looked incredulous. “What? Why not? They’re going to die!”

“Listen, Alice.” Tobias said firmly. “I hate this too, and quite frankly I wish we could just end the project here. But should we save them, we risk prolonging it even more. We need it so that only the strongest of them can advance to the final stage of the quest.”

The normally quiet Alice was now angrier than she had even been before. “What was that about being guilty for your actions? If you have the right to save them, but don’t, then you may as well have murdered them with your own two hands!”

A glint of anger surfaced in Tobias’ eye. “Alice, do not use that god-forsaken argument against me. You have no idea how much I have suffered for this blasted project. I feel the guilt weighing down on me, but if I end the project here, it will make the entire thing meaningless. The countless years of effort put forth by all parties involved will go to a complete waste. Including...” - he paused for a second – “Including the countless lives given.”

Alice just looked on in horror with her special gear as the two kids prepared to die.

 

_Click._

Ken opened his eyes. The machine seemed to be unable to fire? But why?

“Yuki, we’re alive!” Ken yelled.

Yuki sat up quickly. “How?”

The tired girl glanced at their would-be-killer. Upon closer inspection, its launcher seemed to be empty!

“This is the only chance we’ll get!” Ken yelled as he mustered his remaining strength and jumped onto the flying machine, which made a whining sound and extended its wings. It promptly blasted off into the sky, and Ken was almost blown off its back. Gritting his teeth, he managed to climb onto its head, only to hear the sound of a cable being extended.

“Ken, look out behind you!” Yuki screamed from the ground as she fled from a furious bombardment on behalf of the larger robot’s energy cannons.

Ken glanced behind him and saw the machine’s tail about to swing at him. Groaning, he managed to swing his blade, slicing off the heavy tip of the tail. The machine screeched in protest and tried to shake him off, but Ken stabbed his sword into its neck: a part which was not covered in white plate armor. The Mechanoid made a horrible squealing sound before the lights of its eyes went out.

Ken yelled as the lifeless metal shell plummeted to the ground. He glimpsed Yuki fighting against the other Mechanoid, and he got an insane idea.

Grabbing his embedded sword, Ken put his full strength into hanging on to the falling machine. As the Mechanoid hurtled towards the ground, Ken pulled out his sword and jumped off.

The larger machine looked up for the last time as, with a final scream, Ken dropped onto the machine’s head with his sword pointing down, the force of gravity aiding the blade in tearing through its head.

Ken yelled out in pain. He had practically felt his arms snap on impact. But his blade had struck true, and the machine sputtered before finally perishing.

Ken collapsed on the ground as Yuki caught him. “We…did…it…”

Yuki dropped to her knees. “Thank the Gods you’re alive.”

“Heh…you should probably worry about yourself a bit more.” Ken breathed.

Yuki shrugged, before doubling over in pain from that action. She sensed that she had broken at least one or two bones, but it wasn’t anything a good night’s sleep couldn’t heal.

“We really need more practice, don’t we?” Ken asked as he lay down on the scorched earth.

“Tell me about it.” Yuki replied quietly. “My magic didn’t even do anything.”

Ken just nodded. “We were lucky to have even survived.”

But something in the back of his mind nagged at him. These two Mechanoids had shown that they needed training in pretty much every combative aspect, but magic above all else. What had Yuki said? _Nobody in this world has learned to master magical powers except for…the Magnum._

He rolled over and noticed his bag was next to him and miraculously intact. Rummaging through the contents, he pulled out a map and unfurled it. Sure enough, the village he sought was just a few kilometers away from them.

“Yuki…I have yet another insane idea.”

As Ken whispered his insane idea to Yuki, her eyes widened in shock.

“This is a terrible idea. But I trust you on this.” she muttered as she stared at the setting sun. “Can we please rest first, though?”

“You’ve got it, Yuki.” Ken said, managing a smirk.

 

Tobias eyed Alice with a begrudging look. The girl was almost crying with relief.

“I’ll give you that one Alice. But I’m just saying; you can’t allow yourself such emotional attachment to the chosen Nanos. It will only bring you suffering…trust me on that one.”

Tobias swiftly left the room. Alice took one last look at the tiny planet and followed suit.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rather short chapter, and not my favorite. I would kind of like to rework the fighting in this chapter, but I really can't be bothered.


	4. Chapter 3

Tobias approached Matheus, who was at a laptop computer. “How’re they doing?”

“Are they alright?” added Alice, who was in the room.

Matheus looked up from his work. “Their regeneration rate is ever so slightly faster than the norm. Ken managed to recover from a broken arm overnight. Yuki’s healing was slightly slower, but she has recovered from approximately 80% of her injuries as well.”

“Oh, thank god.” Alice murmured.

Tobias nodded. “And they are currently headed to the Magnum?”

“Yes, sir. They have the intent of learning their art in order to bolster their combat skill. Their near victory over the Mechanoids yesterday has clearly had an impact on them.”

The older man scratched his chin. “This is good. Them learning magic will not only provide us an opportunity for further research, but also greatly improve their chances of survival. Matheus, continue monitoring their power.”

“Yes, sir.”

 

“This is a terrible idea.” Yuki groaned. Their Steeds (which had miraculously survived the previous ordeal) pawed the ground and whinnied nervously.

The Radiant Swords now stood outside the imposing metal gate that led to Atlas, the Magnum settlement that they had decided to visit. If anyone was able to train their magical talents, it would be them. Of course, that was assuming they didn’t vaporize the pair on sight, but Ken was somewhat optimistic about their chances.

He cleared his throat and shouted at the top of his lungs. “Hello? Is anyone there?”

For a few seconds, nothing happened. Then the gates opened, and a multitude of robed men and women carrying odd weapons stood before them. Their weapons varied quite a bit, but they all had one thing in common: crystalline objects of varying forms fastened to them.

One of them, who was apparently that group’s leader, stepped forward, pointing what appeared to be a wand at them. “Foreigners. State your names and purpose.”

Yuki stepped forward. “My name is Yuki no Hikari, and this is my friend Ken Hoshizora. We wish to seek training from you - training that only your people can grant us.”

The man’s eyes narrowed. “Training? You want to know our secrets?”

A wave of muttering swept through their ranks, but the Radiant Swords stood firm. 

After some discussion with his peers, the man then turned towards them again and spoke. “You two are awfully suspicious. Nobody has walked in and asked for training in a long, long time. You will have to come with us and be questioned.”

Ken backed up a bit. “Questioned? Um…can we not be questioned?”

The man just shook his head. “I’m afraid you have little say in that matter.”

The Magnum suddenly surrounded them and raised their hands, forming magic runes that encircled them. Both of them drew their weapons.

Then a calm but loud voice spoke from behind them. “Stop.”

The runes faded, and all the Magnum looked to see the source of the noise. Standing in their midst was a tall, grey-haired man wearing a blood-red robe. In his hand he held a metal staff topped with a clear crystal nestled within a pair of wicked-looking blades. He seemed to radiate some sort of authority, and as such the Magnum cleared out.

Yuki looked at him incredulously. “Wait, who are you?”

The man’s crimson eyes gleamed with authority. “I am Magnus, leader of the Magnum tribe and founder of Atlas.” He turned to his tribesmen. “And I must ask you, my fellow Magnum...is this how you treat strangers?”

 

Magnus then led the pair through their village.

“Sorry about that rough welcome. We can be a bit…aggressive at times.” Magnus said. “Our arts are what give us strength, so we sometimes wish to keep them private.”

Ken just shook his head. “It’s fine, sir.”

The Magnum chief looked slightly amused by his politeness. “So tell me, why would you suddenly want to come to us in order to learn our techniques?”

Yuki piped up. “That’s because we’re on an impossible quest, and after nearly dying to those two stupid robots we realized that our magic needs some serious work.”

Magnus stopped walking. He turned around with a shocked look on his face. “Wait…you two are the chosen ones?”

“Um…yeah?” both of them said in unison.

Magnus shook his head. “I’ve…been out of touch with recent events, to be honest. Even the Gods.” He seemingly sized them up. “You said you encountered two Mechanoids before?”

“Yes, sir. A large, bulky one and a smaller, flying one. We would have died, had it not been for Ken’s insane move at the end.” Yuki told him.

“Hmm…you fought off an Enforcer and a Bombardier by yourselves? I’d call that a win. Those things are tough as all hell.” Magnus said. Looking at their shocked expressions, he raised his eyebrows. “How do I know their names? Well, I do know a lot about the Mechanoids. They are drawn to places with many powerful individuals, so we get a lot of attacks. So, the Gods sometimes give us some information too.”

Ken looked a bit uneasy. “That must be dangerous.”

“Sure is, but fortunately our fighters are well disciplined and well trained. Although, really, it’s their attitude that counts in my eyes, not their power.” Magnus told them. They had reached a wooden bench inside of a tent, which he sat on. “Please, take a seat.”

Ken and Yuki sat down.

Magnus laced his fingers. “So, you guys want to learn magic, huh?”

Both of them nodded.

“Well, I’ll be willing to teach you. You’ll probably need it for your journey.” Magnus said. Looking at their excited smiles, he continued. “First off, I’ll need to tell you some basics. Each person has a supply of magic within themselves which can regenerate over time. Overexertion will result in consequences such as fatigue, loss of consciousness or worse. Your magic itself can do practically anything you will it to, from manipulating matter and the elements, to passively speeding up your healing, increasing your strength, and sharpening your senses. That’s only scratching the surface, since not even we have discovered its full potential yet. And, although I will admit training is a large factor of it, a huge part of using magic is about your equipment.”

Ken blanched. “Equipment?”

“Yes. While a normal person with training can use a portion of their magical powers, what is truly required is some kind of conduit; something that can draw out the absolute fullest of one’s powers. It’s not about increasing how much magic you possess: that is decided from the moment of your birth. It’s about increasing how much magic you can expel at once.” Magnus looked at them again. “How much magic can you use?”

“Well, we’ve been able to lift objects and launch fireballs.” Yuki told him.

“Hmm…that’s a good start. Offensive magic is considered to be the most strenuous type to use.” Magnus mused. “You see, us Magnum have used a mysterious type of mineral which works extremely well as a conduit of magic.” He tapped the clear crystal on his staff. “This mineral, which we call Imperium, can be used in order to direct the flow of magical energy. It is found in both crystal and metal forms. Our weapons, such as this staff, use metallic Imperium as a main material to conduct magic efficiently, and some even have Imperium crystals embedded in them which amplify our magic further. Not many know how to modify a weapon to do this, even in our camp.”

Ken looked interested. “So what you’re saying is that in order to use our magic more effectively, we need to modify our weapons with this Imperium stuff?”

“Precisely.” Magnus said. “I trust that you have weapons of some kind?”

The pair took out their swords and placed them on the table. Magnus examined them, lifting them up and down, and his eyes widened. “This is some impressive metalwork. These swords are perfectly made, and I can tell the metal is of the highest quality. I can tell that your weapons will be amazing should they be modified to conduct magic. Who made these swords?”

Ken tried to look as small as possible while Yuki pointed at him.

Magnus just nodded. “You’ve done a very good job. In fact, I think that you should go over to that house to the right to meet our blacksmiths. I’m sure that they can help modify your weapons. In fact, you might be able to teach them a thing or two.”

Ken looked a bit flustered, but stood up and left with both his and Yuki’s swords.

Yuki watched him go before looking back at Magnus. “Why did you send him there?”

“Well, because I can tell he’s a blacksmithing expert. There are plenty of things both him and our blacksmiths can learn from being together. Also,” Magnus added, “I can tell from your magic aura that you’re the more magically inclined of the two, so it is beneficial to teach you a bit more. Of course, you must tell Mr. Hoshizora all of this after, but I’d prefer if I could give you a bit of a head start”

“Really? Maybe I can finally beat Ken at something now!” Yuki exclaimed.

Magnus looked a bit shocked, but failed to suppress a small laugh. “He is your good friend, is he not? I can tell you two are intrinsically connected to each other.”

“For sure! We’re best friends, siblings almost!” Yuki told him.

Magnus laughed a bit. “That’s what they all say.”

“What?”

“Never mind. To start off, you are the first of the heroes to ask for our help in many years, and in that gap of time I have learned much more about this mysterious art.” Magnus shook his head. “If only they knew what I now know…maybe they would have met kinder fates.”

“Hey, they might not have died, you know…” Yuki told him.

Magnus looked at her. “Here’s the thing. From what I have learned, magic has a number of factors contributing to successful use. You need innate talent, training, the aforementioned conduit, and the sheer willpower to use it.”

Yuki looked a bit confused. “Willpower?”

“Yes, willpower. You must imagine that you are able to do what you wish to accomplish, and you must not have a trace of doubt over your abilities. Your confidence must be absolute, or your magic has a high chance of faltering. Just remember, it’s not “I must” or even “I can”, it’s “I will”. Like I said before, attitude is what counts. Power is just something that your attitude amplifies.”

“So…if I believe, I can accomplish anything?” Yuki asked. “Sounds kinda cheesy.”

Magnus just shook his head. “You cannot do anything. However, you must  _ believe  _ that you can do anything, and then your magic will swell forth. Chances are, at your full strength you can accomplish things you never imagined possible.”

Yuki’s eyes gleamed. Noticing a target right outside, she asked “Can I try something on that?”

“Be my guest.” was the response.

Yuki raised her hand, and without a second thought she hurled a fireball at the target.

The straw block erupted into a massive blast, completely removing all traces of it from existence. Where it stood, a four-meter wide crater now smoldered in its wake.

Magnus was impressed. “Good! Excellent! Your potential is already beginning to show from just your conviction. Once you have your conduits and have trained, I feel that you will be able to take on nearly anything fate decides to throw at you.”

Ken chose this moment to walk back into the tent. “They gave the okay signal, and they’re helping us modify our…” he trailed off. “What happened?”

Yuki just beamed at him. “I threw a big fireball at that target, that’s what happened!”

Ken just groaned. “I leave for ten minutes and everything’s in flames. Why am I not surprised?”

Yuki got up and yelled indignantly while Magnus laughed. Those two reminded him of a younger him and his wife. Those were good times.

 

Ken sat on a wooden bench, deep in thought. After watching the Magnum run him through on how to modify his and Yuki’s weapons, he was pondering how he would go about doing this task. Their weapons meant a lot to them, and Ken really didn’t want to screw this up.   


From behind him, he heard a pair of familiar voices talking, which meant that Yuki and Magnus had entered the room.

“Wait, so you  _ didn’t  _ name the tribe after yourself?” Yuki asked incredulously.

Magnus laughed heartily. “No! The name dates way back. It was created at the Gods’ suggestion over a hundred years ago by the first of us. My parents just thought it would be quite amusing to name me after their tribe.”   


Ken was intrigued. “Well, that’s a really cool name to have.”   


“Indeed it is.” Magnus laughed. “Now, Ken, I see that you have been pondering your course of action for some time now. What are you worrying about?”   


Ken sighed. “Well...in order to do this, I have to completely melt down our swords before reforging them with Imperium mixed in with the original metal. I’ve already prepared two molds and have everything measured and ready, but...well, I just don’t want to mess up. I spent a long time making these swords for me and Yuki, and they’ve been with us for many years now.”

“I see where your worries are coming from,” Magnus reassured him, “but you really don’t have to be so stressed. You made the swords once, it should be no problem for a blacksmith of your caliber to make them again.”   


Ken looked at Yuki, who flashed him a reassuring grin.

“Okay.” he breathed. “Let’s get started.”   


The three of them walked over to an area of the forge, where two closed molds lay in wait. Ken pulled out his sword, which had already had the leather around the handle unwrapped. He held out his other hand, and Yuki handed him her own blade, also with the handle unwrapped. Placing each sword in a metal bucket, he gave Magnus a nod. The Magnum leader raised his hand as his eyes glowed red, and blinding flames engulfed the swords. When the fiery whirlwinds dissipated, both weapons were reduced to pools of brilliant white-orange liquid.

Ken took a deep breath. Turning to his left, he grasped two stone cups, each one containing several metallic chunks of Imperium. Holding them out to Magnus, he carefully melted the chunks inside the cups, turning them into glowing orange liquid. Without any delay, Ken poured the cups into the buckets containing their melted swords, one cup per bucket. The molten metals looked identical and didn’t react violently when they touched, yet all of them felt as if an invisible reaction had taken place.

Once the metals had swirled and mixed for about a minute, Ken poured each bucket into its corresponding mold. Raising his hand again, Magnus slowly lowered the temperature of the molds, cooling the newly-forged weapons faster than it would have normally taken. A couple minutes later, the blades were completely cooled and Magnus took them out, presenting them to the young blacksmith.

Ken took them gingerly. Carefully walking over to another station with numerous tools and a forge lying in wait, Ken began meticulously sharpening, reheating, and recrafting the blades. His heart was pounding, but he had poured his heart and soul into those two weapons when he initially created them. Even if he wasn’t aware of it, he knew each sword like an extension of himself, down to the finest detail.

Yuki watched on in awe. Even after watching him do this for almost her entire life, she still had no idea how Ken was able to utilize his equipment so perfectly. While they were generally quite competitive about anything they did together, Yuki knew that the chances of her even coming close to Ken’s metalworking skill were near zero.

With Magnus’ magic controlling the forge and metalworking machinery, the process was far faster than it had originally taken. In only two hours, Ken had already perfectly remade each sword, down to the smallest details. With finality, he rewrapped the hilts and bolted the leather back onto them.

Ken breathed a sigh of relief as Yuki applauded enthusiastically. Both swords looked the same as they did before, save for the edges being slightly more silver. Grasping the hilt of his blade, Ken could barely feel a difference in weight. He mused that the Imperium must have been extremely light in order for this to have happened. Ken also noted that whenever he touched the metal, his fingers seemed to feel a faint buzzing vibration. He wasn’t sure if that was from the metal itself, his magic, or both.

Yuki eagerly took her own sword, weighing it experimentally. “It feels the same. Yet...I can feel some kind of power coursing through it.”   


Magnus nodded. “A bit of your magic should already have started circulating through the weapon. Imperium practically attracts magical energy.”   


The Radiant Swords nodded in agreement, although Magnus could tell that they were much more focused on their new toys than his words.

Regardless, he went on. “Now, you have your conduits. Once you are ready, you may tell me, and I will make haste to begin your training…” he trailed off as he realized he was talking to empty air. “Hello?”   


Magnus turned around to see Ken and Yuki run laughing outside to the training ground.

The Magnum leader just sighed. Those two had so much enthusiasm, he could already tell they would pick up on their magic incredibly fast. He had already been in his twenties when he picked up on enthusiasm even close to what those two had displayed. If he had been so motivated before...well, things would have turned out differently.

 

“Hyah!”

“Take this!”

Ken panted, the edge of his broadsword glowing with a crimson light. Yuki stood a few feet away, holding her katana in a guarding position. The two charged again and locked blades.

The Magnum looked on in awe. While they were all extremely skilled magicians, they were not the best swordfighters, and never before had they seen such a display of swordsmanship before. As the two youth grit their teeth and tried to overpower each other, Ken’s sword began to radiate intense heat, and Yuki’s blade started to turn orange, causing her to yelp and step back.

Ken lunged and swung his blade, creating a blast of fire that soared towards his opponent. Yuki gasped and raised a hand, creating a spherical barrier that completely absorbed the attack. Her katana’s edge glowing green, she slashed multiple times, firing green razor blades that Ken avoided.

Magnus looked on in approval. Those two had been training diligently for almost two weeks now, and their power was already through the roof. They had incredible raw potential, and now that they had been trained they seemed nearly unstoppable.

There was a yelp as Ken knocked aside the frozen bolt that Yuki had just thrown out and lunged, disarming her. She tried to put up a shield, but Ken chopped through it before it could fully form. As Yuki backed up, Ken slammed the flat of his sword into her chestplate, sending her sprawling into the grass nearby.

The Magnum all cheered as Ken bowed and helped his friend back on her feet. Yuki seemed a bit upset, but accepted her praise anyways. Eventually the Magnum cleared out and the pair went back over to Magnus, who was at a table with a number of books.

“That was impressive, you two! You magic is much stronger than it was yesterday.” Magnus told them as they sat down heavily and sighed.

“Really? It felt the same.” Ken told him. “Apparently, that’s still enough to beat Yuki though.”

Yuki’s cheeks puffed up. “Ken, another word and I will shove a fireball down your throat.”

Magnus laughed. “While your bickering is highly amusing, Ken’s swordsmanship eventually did trump your magical talents. However, I highly suspect that the result will be different once you’re up against actual foes like the Mechanoids.”

“Speaking of Mechanoids, is there anything else that is interesting in that encyclopedia of yours?” Yuki asked. “We’ve been studying it for a while now.”

True to his word, Magnus had been tutoring them on the various types of Mechanoids that he had documented over his lifetime. While Magnus admitted that his guide was not perfect, Ken and Yuki had still insisted that he educate them.

“Hm? Ah, yes.” Magnus said. “There is one thing I neglected to mention, since I thought that everyone had heard of it by now. However, in case my assumption was wrong, I will teach you about it. Have you ever heard of the Phenomena?”

“The…what now?” Yuki asked.

Magnus nodded. “The Phenomena are two massive, towering machines that aimlessly roam the land. Nobody knows why the hell they’re here, but legends say that the Gods put them there for some unknown purpose. They are extremely dangerous by virtue of their enormous size, but it is unknown if they are truly malicious or not.”

“By massive, how massive are you talking about?” Ken asked. “The Mechanoids are pretty big.”

“By massive, I mean they stand at about fifty kilometers tall, Ken.” As the two of them looked on in shock, Magnus added: “Also, they are not Mechanoids.”

“Fifty…kilometers?” Yuki asked. “That’s insane! How could something so big exist?”

“You seem to be forgetting the Gods exist, miss Hikari.” Magnus said.

“Yeah, but it’s like the Gods exist in a different world.” Yuki responded. “The fact that those robots exist on the same planet as us...just wow.”

Ken was interested. “You said they were two of them?”

“Yes. There is the white-and-blue Unit Alpha, and its counterpart, the black-and-red Unit Omega. Both seem to have the same functions and abilities, but while the benevolent Alpha has helped out countless villages innumerable times over the years, the destructive Omega has razed the same amount, if not more.”

The pair shuddered as they imagined the very notion of a violent robot of that size.

Magnus went on. “If the two of them ever meet, they will do battle until either of them is destroyed. But as of now, all fights documented have ended in a stalemate where both of them were wounded too heavily to fight further, and left to regenerate their wounds.” He looked at the pair, his eyes seeming to harden slightly. “Have you seen what a fight between those two looks like?”

Both of them shuddered again before saying in unison: “I hope we never do.” 

“…Because I know.” Magnus said through gritted teeth. “I know all too well.”

Before anyone else could say anything, an attendant walked up to his chief. “Magnus sir, our beastmasters are bringing back the Brimstone Drakes, as you asked.”

Ken almost fell out of his chair. “The what now?”

Yuki looked scared. “D…did you just say Brimstone Drakes?”

Magnus looked amused. “Oh, those? They aren’t so bad. Sure, they are brutal to those who provoke them, but otherwise are incredibly kind. They can even grow protective of those who treat them well.”

One walked into the area, and the Radiant Swords squeaked in alarm. The beast was the size of a small house, covered from head to toe in molten scales, and had eyes which burned like miniature suns. It reared back its head and roared, spreading its wings and casting a shadow over them. However, Magnus just took a piece of meat from a bag his attendant was holding and tossed it at the giant creature, who snapped it up happily. “We found these guys in the wild, and they’ve kind of grown attached to us. Unfortunately, interaction with them is minimal since they can burn anything they touch.”

As if to prove it, the drake walked over to Yuki, who backed away a bit. However, the beast simply purred and lay down in front of her. Hesitantly, Yuki reached over for a piece of meat and slowly held it out to the drake. It carefully took it in its jaws and ate it, before making an excited roar and nodding its head as if to thank her.

“Wow, that’s incredible! I didn’t know those creatures were actually that friendly!” Yuki breathed incredulously.

Ken had a similar reaction. “And it trusted you right away as well. That’s so sweet. It’s like a friendly, oversized pet.”

Magnus smiled. “Any creatures can be friendly. I believe that there isn’t a single truly evil being that exists on this planet. Plus, they can also help defend against Mechanoid attacks…” he trailed off as an eerie horn sounded in the distance. “Aw, hell.”

“What?” the Radiant Swords asked in unison.

Magnus looked at them. “Mechanoid attack. Seems like it’s time to put your skills to the test, eh?”

 

“Here they come!” a voice called.

Ken and Yuki stood firm at the gates of the Magnum camp, their swords raised and ready to alternatively chop through or blast enemies. With his magic flowing through the blade, Ken’s sword somehow felt a lot easier to handle. He glanced at Yuki, who was idly swinging her blade in the air, and he could see that she felt the same way.

The first wave of Mechanoids appeared: several dozen Sentinels with weapons drawn. With a command from Magnus, the tribe of mages raised their weapons in unison and launched a wave of multicolored fury at the invaders, who were instantly blasted to shreds under the firepower. But the second wave was soon upon them: several Bombardiers and Enforcers, along with a horde of flying, insectoid machines Ken identified as Swarmers.

Yuki shouted happily as the edge of her blade glowed bright green and she launched several crescents of light that ripped through the flying machines. Ken raised his sword and shot out a crimson beam, aiming specifically for the larger Swarmer in the middle of the group. Sure enough, once their leader was obliterated the rest of them combusted on the spot.

Ken glanced over at Yuki as she swung her blade wildly. Seeing that she had missed a few Swarmers, he jumped over to her and raised his sword, creating a blue bubble around both of them. Sure enough, the Swarmers unfurled small blasters and unleashed a wave of laser fire that would have turned them into pincushions were it not for Ken’s intervention.

“Thanks.” Yuki managed as she fired a green slash at an incoming Bombardier, slicing it in half. “These guys seem a lot easier now that we have these fancy new powers.”

Suddenly a voice to their right yelled “Look out!”

The two of them glanced up to realize that the Mechanoids had breached their ranks with sheer numbers and that an Enforcer was bearing down on them. Ken willed his blade’s edge to become red-hot and charged his swing at the advancing behemoth with magical energy. His blade cleaved through its armor like it was water, and the machine sputtered and fell before Ken impaled its head.

As Yuki turned towards another Enforcer that was approaching, there was a crimson flash before the machine was enveloped in a massive explosion. 

Turning towards the source of the flash, the two of them witnessed Magnus casually strolling through the chaos, a rune resembling a four-pointed star around his wrist. He was aiming his staff at nearby Mechanoids and utterly erasing them with his overwhelming power. He pointed the weapon at an Enforcer, releasing a massive torrent of flame that instantly blasted the armored machine into an explosion of molten slag and disintegrated the squad of Sentinels behind it. Turning his attention to a group of Swarmers, Magnus unleashed a fusillade of golden arrows which homed in on the swarm and tore through them like a whirlwind. 

A Bombardier fired a rocket salvo at him, but Magnus raised his hand and blocked it with a shield before obliterating the machine with a crimson laser blast. Glancing at a huge group of machines running at him, he froze half of them with a glacial explosion before launching a golden blast into the sky, which erupted into numerous meteors. The falling blasts utterly destroyed his offenders, as well as a squad of Bombardiers which were too slow to get out of the way fast enough. As a Sentinel got too close for comfort, he decapitated it with a swift stroke of his bladed staff and moved on.

“…Wow. That guy sure isn’t the Magnum leader for nothing.” Ken breathed.

Yuki nodded. “He’s crazy powerful! He might even be able to….” She trailed off as she saw a red beam aimed at Ken’s forehead. “Get down!”

She tackled Ken to the ground as a crimson laser seared over their heads and struck a tree, instantly setting it ablaze. Looking at the source, they found a nearby Stryker: a small, quadrupedal machine with bladed legs and a large cannon on its back. Ken promptly jumped at it and cleaved it in half.

Yuki ran into the fray, helping Ken engage the dozen Strykers that had suddenly showed up. The machines unfurled small, dual-barreled blasters and attacked furiously with both their guns and razor-sharp legs. Yuki slashed and hacked with Ken at her side, stopping only to raise shields, and soon the machines were reduced to scrap metal.

“Hey, you two!” Magnus called. “Look out behind you!”

They turned around to see a Stryker M2: a massive, insectoid machine whose arms were enormous blades nearly as tall as either of them. As one swung its arm at Yuki, Ken leapt in and parried its attack, the impact forcing him to one knee. As the behemoth prepared another strike, Yuki prepared a hexagram-shaped rune at her feet and used it to launch herself onto its head. She then proceeded to repeatedly stab its head using her magically-charged katana. The Stryker whirred as it activated its last-resort function she had read about - how it would channel its remaining energy into its blades to superheat them – but she chopped off its head before it could murder Ken with its now-glowing swords.

Just as the two of them were getting comfortable, several Stryker M2 units burst through the defensive iron barricade the Magnum had set up, having just cleaved through it with their heated blades. Magnus, who happened to be in their vicinity, spotted a dark shape behind them and groaned. “Oh, Gods.”

“What is it?” Yuki and Ken asked in unison.

“That Magnetron is back,” Magnus replied, raising his staff. “For the third time this week.”

The Radiant Swords backed up as a massive, dark monster stomped into the fray. While its shape seemed slightly amorphous, it was vaguely humanoid and almost as large as Daichi’s forge back at their home village. Upon closer inspection, its body was made out of what looked like black sand, constantly shifting and held together by some unseen force.

“What is that thing?” Yuki yelped. “It’s holding itself together with…magic?”

“Not magic. Technology.” Magnus responded. “It can use magnetism to control metals. This is one of the most dangerous Mechanoids I have seen. You must not engage it in melee combat.”

As if to prove a point, a Magnum soldier charged it with a halberd. The giant raised a hand, and some force wrenched the weapon out of his grasp. As the halberd flew towards it, the Mechanoid clenched its fist, and there was a horrible crunching sound as the weapon was shredded into more black sand, which it absorbed. The Magnetron then shot out its arm with alarming speed and smacked the man across the battlefield with a brutal strike.

“Are you alright?” Ken called to the man. He groaned and held a thumbs up.

“So swords don’t work.” Yuki said shakily. “How do we beat this thing?”

Magnus stroked his beard. “Most Mechanoids will be torn apart if they stay close to this thing, so it’s usually going to be fighting alone. As for beating it, that giant blob you see there is not the actual Mechanoid. If what the Gods told us is correct, that is a construct made of metal sand that the machine has built to defend its true body. The actual Mechanoid is a hovering sphere in the center of that blob.”

“…And?”

“Since we cannot use melee weapons, we will use magic to blast apart at its body. While it can reabsorb any iron sand it loses in combat, this takes time. If we hit it fast and hard, we can strike at the core, which will be forced to disassemble the body in order to regenerate. That is our opportunity to destroy it.”

As if on cue, the Magnetron turned around to face them before emitting a terrible roar, like the sound of scraping metal. It stomped its foot and charged.

“Fire!” Magnus yelled as he launched a massive blast of flame at the Magnetron. The fireball exploded violently, blowing off a large chunk of its body. The Magnum nearby that heard his order opened fire as well, enveloping it in multicolored blasts. The Radiant Swords launched their own attacks, tearing through its limbs.. However, it was already beginning to reabsorb the metal sand it had lost, and it seemed to be selectively hardening parts of its body upon being struck, nullifying all but the strongest of magic. 

As the machine advanced, it started to exert its magnetism. The Magnum found their weapons torn away from them and tossed aside, and the machine’s heavy yet amorphous body was capable of devastating, unpredictable attacks. Already, Ken could hear the screams of those who were being tossed aside like ragdolls from the force of the Magnetron’s strikes or from the behemoth using its magnetism to grab hold of their armor before tossing them away. To make matters worse, the Magnetron didn’t look any worse for the wear, having apparently absorbed all its lost mass within that short while.

Magnus stood back, hurling wave after wave of cataclysmic fireballs, yet the Magnetron was reabsorbing its lost material faster than he could blow it off. He groaned as he realized that at that level, despite looking obscenely powerful to his companions, his magic wasn’t going to damage the Magnetron fast enough to overpower its regeneration. He could obliterate it entirely, but that would come with the unthinkable consequence of disintegrating nearly everyone in the area.

Ken and Yuki stood beside him while shooting magic of their own, but even they were beginning to tire.

“We can’t beat it like this! We need to get farther away!” a Magnum soldier yelled.

Magnus shook his head. “It’s too late for that. That thing is too fast. It won’t let us get away.” Then, to Ken and Yuki’s surprise, he grinned. “Fortunately, I have a contingency plan in place.”

The Magnum leader held two fingers to his mouth and emitted a shrill whistle.

Almost immediately, Ken yelped in alarm as an ear-splitting roar shook the area. As if hiding there in the first place, at least five full-grown Brimstone Drakes the size of houses charged out of the brush. The dragons roared again, their scales flaring up.

“Magnus, that’s incredible!” Yuki exclaimed.

“Don’t get cocky just yet, kids!” Magnus yelled as the drakes charged the Magnetron, tackling it into the ground. One of them belched a massive stream of fire that blasted the giant’s arm right off while practically liquefying the unfortunate group of Swarmers that were behind it. As the drakes bellowed and tore into their target, the Magnetron roared in return, changing the shape of its body to slither out of its captors’ grasp before reforming nearby and shaping its arms into wicked-looking points. As the drakes charged again, the machine ran towards them and began hacking and slashing with its now-sharpened arms. While its arms shattered and reformed upon striking their armor, Ken could hear pained growls from the drakes whenever the Mechanoid struck an exposed body part.

“Those drakes aren’t going to do this themselves! Open fire!” Magnus bellowed.

Yuki yelled as she launched a green beam that exploded along with the magic blasts from several dozen Magnum behind her, tearing the front part of the Magnetron wide open. The nearest drake charged and started tearing at its limbs. Within the chaos, she spotted a small, glowing orb within the center of the machine.

“There it is!” she yelled as she fired a green slash. As the attack struck the object, there was a bright flash as the entire construct fell apart like a ruined sandcastle, revealing the true form of the Magnetron: a floating metal ball with a single, blue eye. As she spoke, the orb whirred angrily and started whipping up the iron sand scattered around into a black storm. The Brimstone Drakes roared as they were buffeted by it, and all the Magnum stepped back. Yuki, however, fired yet another slash that tore through the storm and struck the core again, cutting a gash into it. The storm subsided and the core extracted four cylinders from itself, which promptly extended into glowing blue blades.

Ken jumped in and joined her as the Magnetron’s core attacked. The Magnum supported them with occasional magic blasts, but the Radiant Swords were the ones locked into a furious close-quarters brawl with the machine. Both of them hacked and slashed to their heart’s content now that its magnetic powers were all but disabled, and despite having four swords the machine was rather unskilled with them. Without its magnetic powers intact, the Magnetron could only futilely swing its weapons around as Ken and Yuki sliced it into ribbons.

Yuki yelled triumphantly as she drove her sword through the core, causing its eye to flicker violently before finally shutting down. Upon seeing their champion destroyed, the few remaining Mechanoids turned tail and fled amidst cheers from the crowd.

Ken ran up and embraced his friend as the Magnum crowded around them, clamoring. Magnus watched on from the sides, smiling contentedly.  _ Those two are really something _ , he thought.  _ They might even have a chance of being the first two to survive this blasted quest. _

Soon, however, even he stepped in to congratulate them on a victory well earned. They hadn’t even suffered any casualties, which was a good sign for the future. As the celebrations continued well into the night, Magnus thought of how those two kids were all but set to go down in Magnum history, and possibly the history of the world.

 

“So, are you all set?” Magnus asked.

Gathering their things, Ken and Yuki got onto the back of a strange creature that looked like a massive bird. The Magnum had offered to grant them one of these mounts, which they called Griffs, since their Steeds had unfortunately perished in the prior day’s combat. While they had only trained for a day, Ken was confident that he could fly the thing without causing any messy death or dismemberment.

Yuki looked a bit pale. “Ken, I hate heights.”

The boy just shrugged. “Well, just get used to it. Flying is for sure faster than walking.”

“Fair point.” was the response.

Magnus walked up to them. “Before you leave, I would like to thank you two on behalf of all the Magnum. If it weren’t for your efforts yesterday, surely we would have suffered far more losses than we did.” The Magnum nodded.

“It was nothing, really.” was the abashed response.

“Second of all, I have…a request for you.” Magnus said. The man looked suddenly nervous. “The path that you have chosen to take passes through an abandoned village.”

Yuki seemed interested. “What about it?”

Magnus went on. “That village, Olympus, used to be a home for us Magnum. We lived there in peace and isolation, and I had even begun to raise a family there. Then…”

“Then what?” Yuki asked.

“One terrible day, Unit Alpha appeared before us. The titan bore no ill intent – in fact, it tried to help us as much as it could by building roads and paths for us. But soon after, the other titan appeared; Unit Omega, who then engaged the White Titan in a cataclysmic battle. That was a day that I will not soon forget. We were forced to evacuate from the wrath of the two titans, but Olympus was completely destroyed in the struggle. I was one of the only ones who escaped. Hundreds of good men and women perished; among the dead my wife and daughter.”

“That’s…terrible, sir.” Yuki said sadly. Magnus’s story had moved her to tears.

“I’m sorry for your loss, sir.” Ken added, his head bowed slightly.

“I try not to think about their deaths too much.” Magnus said, although the sad look in his eyes betrayed his statement a bit. “If you cling to the past long enough, the past will cling to you. But when you pass by that village, if there are somehow any survivors…please give them my regards. That is all I ask of you.”

The two of them nodded before responding in unison. “We understand. We’ll do what we can, we promise.”

And with that, the Magnum bid them their last farewells before the Radiant Swords got onto their mount and flew the Griff into the sunrise-lit sky. A chapter of their adventure had ended, but many more would soon follow in its wake.

 

Michael sat at his computer, typing what felt like a metric ton of data into a spreadsheet. He was so focused on his work that he didn’t notice the rest of his team walk in.

May clapped him on the shoulder. “Hi!”

Michael sat up straight in surprise before slowly turning around. “Holy hell, kid. You scared me halfway to death.”

“I hope that you’ve been actually productive for the past hour?” Diana asked.

Michael looked a bit insulted. “What else do you think I’ve been doing? I’ve been watching those two pipsqueaks practice their magic. They’re real strong, for sure. They learn fast.”

“They seem very kind as well,” Matheus added. “Protecting the Magnum like that.”

“Maybe you could learn a thing or two from them, Michael.” Diana snarked.

“Ugh. Shut up.” Michael groaned.

Tobias walked in and nodded. “Stop it, you guys. Michael, you’re doing well.”

As Michael couldn’t help but give a satisfied smirk, Alice raised her hand. “May has expressed interest in holding a conversation with the two of them.” As May nodded to confirm, Alice addressed Tobias. “She is waiting for your permission.”

“Actually, me and Diana would like to talk to them in person as well.” Matheus added.

Tobias smiled. “Permission granted, just be careful. In fact, specifically for Alice and May, I feel that Ken and Yuki will be quite amicable. They seem like they would make good friends for you.”

Michael couldn’t suppress a snicker. “Hold on, you’re saying that you two want to become friends with those two specks? They’re friendly specks, from what I’ve observed, but still…”

Alice smiled, but seemed to be forcing it. “I believe in equal distribution of friendship.”

“What, Michael? You’re saying that just because they’re tiny we can’t be friends?” May asked.

Michael was about to give some form of witty response, but Tobias flashed a look at him that clearly conveyed the message of “shut up”. “If nobody has anything else to talk about, the meeting is over. Michael, you can take a break now. It’s been a long day for everyone…including Ken and Yuki. Get some rest.”


	5. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of a longer chapter this time. Just a heads-up.

“I swear to all six gods Ken, you’re going to get us killed!”

Those were the words Yuki no Hikari screamed at the top of her lungs as Ken navigated their squawking Griff through a turbulent air current. The poor girl was deathly afraid of heights and got motion sickness easily – a poor combination for a rapidly moving animal soaring well above the clouds. The air was thinner here, but the two of them could still breathe mostly fine. However, Yuki’s face had turned an unsettling shade of green, and Ken was pretty worried for her health. She wrapped her arms tightly around him and held on for dear life. 

“Yuki, I’ll get us to the ground shortly. Just let me get us through this air current and we’ll land, okay?” Ken told her as he grit his teeth. Navigating a giant bird was much harder than he had originally made it out to be. With a motion of the reins, Ken directed the bird to dive almost straight down through the thick clouds in an attempt to escape the turbulence.

Yuki screamed hysterically as they descended, only to get a mouthful of cloud for her troubles. Ken, on the other hand, was absolutely focused on his task. With some effort, he managed to pull them out of the air current and start cruising close to the ground. Spotting a small grove of trees in the otherwise plain field, he commanded the Griff to land there. At least this time, they didn’t go flying off their mount upon landing, which meant that Ken was no longer totally incompetent at landing.

Yuki promptly rolled off the Griff and collapsed on the ground, panting. Ken hopped off and walked over to her. “How’re you doing?”

Yuki groaned. “Not good. My head feels like it’s spinning so fast that you could probably sharpen your sword on it.”

“If it makes you feel any better, there’s a bunch of fruit nearby on that tree.” Ken offered.

“What? Did you say food?” Yuki asked as excitedly as she could.

Ken nodded, and Yuki sat up. “Can you get me some? I’m tired.”

“No.”

“Please?”

“Fine.”

“Yay!”

Ken walked over to the tree and raised a hand to exert his magical powers. With a wrenching motion, he plucked several round, red fruits the size of his hand. He walked back over and tossed Yuki one, which she neglected to catch and consequently took to the shoulder.

“Come on, you can’t be that tired. I’m the one who had to steer this guy.” Ken told her as he fed the giant bird in question a fruit, which it chewed happily. “Come on,” he said, taking a bite of the fruit while handing her another one. “This is good.”

Yuki hesitantly reached out and took the fruit from Ken’s hand before taking a bite out of it. Chewing it thoroughly, she swallowed it and looked up at him. “It’s pretty good. Maybe if I could juice it, or maybe mash it up and mix it with some other fruit jams, it could taste even better.”

“You’re the food expert, Yuki.” Ken told her. “I don’t really know about this stuff.”

Yuki got up. “That tree looks good to sit in.”

Ken grinned. “Funny thing. I was thinking the same.”

So, after a bit of magical exertion, the two of them sat on top of the tree, overlooking the vast plain in front of them. In the distance, they saw a snowy mountain range that was supposed to be their next destination. But next to the mountains there was a gigantic, whitish structure that wasn’t marked on the map.

“Hey Ken, what is that thing?” Yuki asked while shoving another fruit into her mouth.

“No idea.” Ken replied. “We can pass by it and take a look when we get moving again.”

Yuki shrugged. “I don’t want to leave yet. It’s nice here, and the view is beautiful.”

“Point taken.”

The two of them just sat next to each other, staring at the sunset-lit cloudy skies above. Then a strong breeze blew the clouds away from their location.

“Whaaa?” Yuki mumbled, apparently having almost fallen asleep within that minute.

There was no response for all of ten seconds. Then, the titanic face of the goddess Alice slowly filled the sky. The two of them quickly got up and bowed to the deity before activating their headsets.

“Greetings, little ones.” Alice began. “You have no idea how worried I’ve been over how many times you’ve almost died over the course of the last couple weeks.”

“Thanks a lot, miss.” Ken said. “We’re getting better, though.”

“Indeed you are.” Alice said, “And that is why you are greatly relieving my worries. For that, I thank you. However, there is another matter to discuss. I have a friend who is interested in meeting you.”

“Who would that be, miss?” Yuki asked. “I’m honored that a God would want to meet us.”

“Her name is May. If you recall, she was one of the ones who did Selection this year.” Alice told them. “She doesn’t really know how to use the headset to talk, so I decided to use something that funnels sound into a small area so only you two can hear us.” She made a gesture with her hand. “May, come in please.”

Sure enough, another giant face appeared in the sky, this one belonging to what appeared to be a younger girl. She had short brown hair and what appeared to be glasses around her brown eyes. 

“Uh…hi.” May said out loud. Her voice boomed through the atmosphere and shook the very land the Radiant Swords were sitting on. They felt the urge to cover their ears, but felt as if that would be a tad bit disrespectful. “I’m May.”

“Greetings, miss May.” Ken said through his headset. “It is an honor to meet you!”

“Hi there, miss May!” Yuki followed. “I’m honored to meet you!”

Both youth stood up and bowed to their deity.

May seemed a bit taken aback by their sudden display of respect. As she looked lost for words, she suddenly spoke.

_ “You’re so cuuuuuuuuuuuute!” _

Ken and Yuki were nearly blasted off the tree by the sudden burst of sound and wind. May went on, but a bit quieter. “I could just eat you up!”

Ken blanched, instinctively reaching for his weapon. “Wait…what?!”

Yuki was trembling, her hand on her sword hilt. “Y…you’re going to…EAT us?”

Far above, Alice nudged May uncomfortably and mumbled something in her ear. She quickly bowed her head. “I’m sorry! It’s just an expression! I won’t hurt you, I promise!”

Ken just looked on in shock. The goddess was looking less like an almighty deity and more like a planet-sized child with each passing second. “Okay. So, why did you want to meet us of all people?”

May went on, but at a whisper. “I just wanted to check up on you guys. I never really got a chance to meet you in person.” She squinted down at them. “You guys are so tiny! I can’t even see you without this equipment.”

“Wow, you wanted to meet us? That’s so cool!” Yuki exclaimed.

“Really? Thanks!” May exclaimed, before clapping a hand over her mouth as the two of them cringed in pain from the sound. “Sorry.”

Alice had maintained a mildly amused expression the whole time. “May here has some interesting opinions on you two.”

May’s face lit up. “That’s right! I think that you two are practically made for each other!”

“What?” the Radiant Swords said in unison.

“You two are actually so adorable together!” May went on. “The level of intimacy and friendship you two share is something I don’t see too often. Are you two an actual couple?”

Silence from the two Nanosapients. “What...are you trying to say?” Yuki asked timidly.

“I’m asking if you two are in a relationship! Like, dating or anything!” May answered impatiently, before covering her mouth as the duo winced again.

More silence. Then, Ken spoke up. “Uh...no? Well, we’re like siblings, if that’s what you mean…” 

“We are pretty much like siblings,” Yuki admitted. “but what would make you think that? We’re the best of friends, but...”

“Yuki and I are amazing friends, no doubt, but there is no way we’re anywhere close to that point yet.” Ken went on. “What makes you think that?”

May was stunned. “Well…all the couples I’ve seen don’t even come close to your level of friendliness. You two sleep together, hug each other a lot, bicker back and forth…”

“Isn’t that normal?” the two of them said together.

Now it was May’s turn to be silent. “I…I don’t know. It sure as hell isn’t where I’m from.”

Yuki just shrugged. “Huh. Well, maybe you could answer some of our questions. I’ve been dying to ask you about some things.”

“Really? Go ahead!” May told them.

“Why did you pick us, of all people?”

“Oh, that was because you two showed the most fighting potential in your village and therefore had the highest likelihood of success! Also, as I just stated, you two had a very close bond, which I felt would be helpful on the quest.” May responded. “Anything else?”

“Why are we even on this quest to begin with?”

May’s brow furrowed. She seemed lost for a bit before she shrugged. “I don’t know.”

Ken perked up. “Did you just say you didn’t know? As a goddess of this world, shouldn’t you know about pretty much everything?”

To his utter surprise, May seemed to be shocked. “A…goddess?”

“Yeah, you’re one of the Gods, aren’t you?” Yuki asked.

“Me…one of the Gods?” May asked. “You must be mistaken. I’m not some god, I’m a human!”

“…Human?” the two Nanosapients asked. “What’s a human?”

Alice was getting very uncomfortable. May struggled to form an answer before saying “Humans are a species, whose members include me and the others like me! I don’t know about this “God” stuff. You can just call me a human, or a person if you will.” May shifted uncomfortably. “Please do so. I don’t really like this whole honoring stuff.”

The Radiant Swords were stunned. The Gods weren’t actually Gods, but “humans”? What was this? Their beliefs that they had towards the beings above were being unraveled at an alarming rate.

“I’m sorry if I confused you. You know what…I should probably leave. Good luck, you two. Have fun together.” May said rapidly as her uncertain face vanished from view. Alice looked at them concernedly, and then vanished as well.

As the two of them made dinner and prepared to sleep, they thought about what the Gods just said.

“Do you know what May was going on about, Yuki?” Ken asked.

Yuki, who was in the middle of using her chestplate as a makeshift cutting board, just turned around and shrugged. “Not really. I’m not trying to think about their godly logic or whatever. Speaking of which, once you personally talk to a God, they don’t really seem like a divine force. They seem just like us, but...well, big.”

“Heh. Tell me about it.” Ken responded. “Although their words have really piqued my interest. What’s a human, and why does May call herself that?”   


Yuki laughed and nudged him with her elbow. “Don’t worry about it too much!”

Ken just sighed as Yuki curled up next to him on the grassy hill and immediately fell asleep.  _ I guess she’s right. I can leave it for another day. _

Then Ken stretched out and went to bed as well.

 

May was mildly upset. “Noooo, I probably confused or scared them so much…”

“Don’t worry about it.” Alice reassured her. “They won’t hold it against you.”

“On a different note...they had little to no change in heart rate at all when I questioned their relationship…” May muttered. “How oblivious are these two? I mean, I thought some of the students at my school were dense, but this...”   


Next to her, Tobias raised an eyebrow.

May suddenly turned as red as a ripe tomato. “I-I mean, it’s not like I’ve been involved in that kind of stuff before! What are you trying to imply here?”   


Alice watched on. “I believe that those two view intimacy like this as commonplace. Although not to this degree, this seems to be a recurring trend with the rest of their species. If that is the case, then I am duly impressed. To be able to show such kindness to everyone all the time is something I strive for.”

Tobias sighed. “Yet another reason these guys might not be deserving of how we are treating them. If more evidence arises that they are human enough for this to be considered inhumane, I will have to consider other options.”   


“Yes, sir.”

 

The next morning, Ken yawned as he flew his Griff closer and closer to the giant pale object that they had spotted earlier. Yuki had insisted that they fly low this time, and Ken had begrudgingly agreed. Ken enjoyed the rush of flying well above the clouds – a feeling that just seemed so  _ unnatural _ , like they were never meant to fly but still managed to. 

However, he put Yuki’s opinion first for this ride, and decided to do as she said. They were still flying at incredible speeds while maintaining a rather low altitude of about twenty meters, so Ken guessed it wasn’t so bad.

“There’s a weird house thing there!” Yuki exclaimed as she pointed down. Indeed, there was a large wooden cabin overlooking a small forested lake right next to the massive object. Ken nodded knowingly as he dove down and came in for a swift landing next to the house.

The two of them got off and beheld the pale structure at close proximity. It was vaguely reflective and utterly enormous; spanning a diameter of at least ten kilometers and standing at the height of a mountain. Upon closer inspection, it was actually a flat object, slightly bent and stuck into the ground so that it formed an arc of sorts. Ken could see underneath it just fine.

Yuki ran her hand along the surface of the object. “It feels smooth, and somehow…familiar.” She took out her sword and experimentally traced its point over it, carving gashes into it like it was made of paper. “What…is this thing?”

A hearty voice from behind them chortled. “Visitors! It’s been a while!”

The two of them drew their swords in a lightning-quick motion and pivoted, only to find a large man with messy black hair and a magnificent beard wearing a thick brown jacket. The man looked bewildered and raised his hands. “Whoa there, kids!”

“Sorry, mister.” Yuki said sheepishly as she and Ken sheathed their blades. She looked at the large cabin nearby. “Do you live here?”

The man laughed. “Nah. There’s nobody living anywhere within sixty kilometers of this place. I live at a village called Eulogia that’s in those mountains. I just come to this cabin every now and then to relax.” He extended a hand. “The name’s Samuel. Call me Sam, if you will.”

Both of them shook Sam’s hand. “I’m Ken, and this is Yuki.” Ken told him.

Sam’s eyes widened a bit. “Oh, so you two are the chosen ones, eh?”

“Yes, sir.” Yuki said matter-of-factly.

“Hmm.” Sam mused. “I don’t really know why you landed here of all places, though. That flying thing you have is nowhere near tired.”

Ken stepped forward. “Actually, we were curious about what that massive thing there is.”

Sam laughed. “Oh, that thing? Well, I happen to know a thing or two about it.”

As the Radiant Swords looked on in curiosity, Sam continued. “You see, nothing is perfected instantly. When the Gods were figuring out how this planet works, they had a couple…accidents. This here, you see, is a flake of their skin that fell down here and never ended up getting removed. Nowadays, accidents like these don’t happen at all, and for that I’m thankful.”

Ken sat down and gaped at the gargantuan skin flake. Yuki rummaged around in her hair to obtain a skin flake, and upon seeing how miniscule it was she turned pale.

“So you’re saying that…mountain thing…is really just a tiny piece of their skin?” Ken asked incredulously.

Yuki seemed to be going into shock. “That’s…scary. Just how huge are the Gods anyways?”

Sam scratched his beard. “They’re huge alright. I find this skin flake pretty interesting though. It’s really humbling to live next to this thing. If I were to go into more complex terms, I would say that it’s pretty sublime, ya know what I’m saying?”

“We have no idea what that word means, sir.” Ken said as if it were obvious.

“Oh. Well that’s a shame, I could go on for hours about…hold on a moment.”

Ken and Yuki looked up as two gigantic faces materialized in the sky. These Gods, however, were different. One seemed to be a middle-aged man with scruffy brown hair, a short beard, and a pair of small square spectacles. The other was an older woman with long, flowing black hair and slightly darker skin.

All three Nanos knelt in reverence. “Lord Matheus and Lady Diana! It is an honor!” Sam said reverently.

Yuki and Ken activated their headsets. “Greetings.”

“Hello, little ones.” a feminine voice said, presumably Diana’s. “I see that you have reached that little accident we had there.”

“Well, for us it’s way more than just a “little” accident, huh?” Ken said.

Sam looked a bit shocked. “You can talk to them privately like that?”

Diana shook her head. “I guess you’re right. As much as I hate to admit it, you citizens of Territe are like bacteria compared to us. This is why I do not like interacting with this world too much, for fear that even my smallest actions could be cataclysmic.”

Ken was going to ask what bacteria were, but another voice – presumably Matheus’ – interrupted. “Diana simply wanted to meet you, but I had the intention of checking up on you two. Your power level is astounding. I think it’s safe to say that you two are some of the strongest Nanos we’ve ever seen. I feel that you two have a good likelihood of completing this quest.”

“Uh…thanks?” Yuki said uncertainly.

Sam nudged them uncomfortably. “There are Mechanoids approaching.”

“Hm?” both of them mumbled as they turned around. Sure enough, there was a large group of Mechanoids resembling armored wolves. Each of them was encased in a circular barrier, and their razor-sharp teeth gleamed in the morning sun.

“Razor Wolves. Light, shielded, no weapons besides teeth and claws.” Ken recited, recalling the information from Magnus’ guide. “Rather weak and rely on numbers to kill. Can actually feel hunger and synthesize food, meaning that they kill with reason rather than mindlessly.”

“Ah, the Razor Wolves.” Diana mused. “I remember personally designing and creating them.”

Sam looked a bit uncertain. “I’ve got an axe in the shed over there.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Ken and Yuki said in unison as they drew their glowing blades.

One Razor Wolf pounced, and Yuki launched a red crescent at it. The beam cleaved through its shield and body alike, and the bisected remains fell to the ground. As another charged at Sam, Ken stepped in and hacked its shield apart with a strong downward stroke before skewering its head. More joined the fight, and Ken’s sword glowed bright red as he cleaved another in half, shield and all, before firing a wave of flames that blasted the others back while disintegrating their barriers.

Yuki waved her blade idly, sending forth golden bolts of energy that shattered the Razor Wolves’ barriers before causing them to erupt into flames. She sidestepped the lunge of another before slicing through a chink in its armor with a well-placed swipe. With another wave of her sword, more green waves flew out of it and turned the approaching Wolves into scrap.

Within the span of five minutes, Ken and Yuki had butchered every single one of their robotic foes, all without taking a single hit in return. Sam looked at them, awestruck, while the two Gods above nodded their heads with approval.

“That was…incredible. You two really are something!” Sam exclaimed.

“The Razor Wolves are rather low-level Mechanoids – no offense to Diana – with a rather glaring weakness in their lack of real armor or weaponry.” Matheus explained. “They were no match for you; although, I must say I am very impressed by your combative skill.”

“Thanks, sir.” Yuki said. “By the way, I feel that the Mechanoids seem to each have some kind of exploitable weakness. You Gods were the ones who designed them, right? Why is that so?”

Matheus chuckled. “The Mechanoids were not built to kill you. They were built to test the strength and mettle of your species. As I once heard, diamonds are built under pressure, and I firmly believe that applies to strength as well. Believe me, if we had designed them to kill you, your species would have gone extinct a long while ago.”

“Oh. Okay.” Yuki said, a bit shaken by his last words. “Why would you need to test us?”

Yuki seemed to have hit a nerve, because Matheus suddenly looked a bit uncomfortable. “That’s for us to know and you to maybe find out.”

“Also, mister Matheus,” Ken added, ignoring his reaction, “What are “bacteria”?”

“Oh. Bacteria are the smallest known living beings we knew…before your species, of course. Tiny, simple beings smaller than specks, they are utterly infinitesimal compared to us humans. Thus, we often use them as a comparison, although admittedly you are quite a bit smaller.” Matheus saw their looks of dismay and coughed. “No offense.”

“Wow, thanks a lot. I always wanted to be utterly infinitesimal.” Yuki mumbled.

“Don’t be too offended.” Diana told them. “While you may be tiny in size, I believe that you are large in power and spirit – things I find more valuable than size. I’m sure Matheus thinks the same way as well. Also, about the actual word, get used to it – Michael tends to throw it around a lot, and I feel you will encounter him sooner or later.”

“Okay, I guess?” Yuki said uncertainly.

“Heh. That’s true.” Matheus added. “Plus, he also talks really loud. It makes him feel all high and mighty, but I think it hurts like hell for you tiny ones down there.”

“I don’t get it. You described yourselves as human like miss May did before. Are you Gods or humans?” Ken asked.

Matheus looked a bit surprised. He looked at Diana, who shrugged. “For the record, you may use either to describe us. I feel that human suits us better.” Matheus said. “Also for the record, please don’t refer to May as a goddess, she’s kind of sensitive to these things.”

“Okay.” Ken and Yuki said in unison.

“Tell me,” Matheus asked, “Does it feel strange to exist?”

“What?”   


“As far as we know, creatures of your complexity cannot exist at such a scale.” Matheus told them. “Hell, the only reason the Mechanoids and our other machines work at that scale is because we used some resources from your planet to build them...or at least that’s what Tobias says. And yet...you are here. Do you feel...strange, somehow?”   


The Radiant Swords shook their heads. “Um...no?.”

“...Okay. I was just wondering about it.” Matheus said, slightly disappointed.

“Alright. It’s been a good time meeting you two, but we must go.” Diana told them. “May fortune smile upon your endeavors.”

“Thank you!” both of them yelled as the two Gods disappeared.

Sam looked at them incredulously. “You just did have a casual conversation with two Gods, right?”

“I guess. Even I’m still not too used to it.” Yuki told him.

 

A day later, the two of them bid their farewells to Sam and took flight once again. Flying over the giant skin flake laying on the ground, the Radiant Swords once again pondered the scale of the beings which ruled their world. However, they soon put it aside as they flew into a snowy mountain range.

Their Griff squawked in protest as they were buffeted by a cold wind. “Sorry, bud.” Ken told it. “We’ve just got to go a bit further.”

“Wow, is that what snow looks like?” Yuki asked. Their home village was very temperate and almost never got snow, even in the winter.

“I guess so, Yuki.” Ken told her. “It’s really pretty, though.”

Yuki leaned over to get a clearer look, and yelped as she realized how high up they were. Chuckling, Ken pulled her back onto her seat as she took deep breaths.

Soon enough, they found what they were looking for: a large village of wooden cabins, with countless lights brightening the cloudy darkness present at the mountaintop. As they came in for a landing, many people gathered round to gawk at them. Well, they had just descended from the sky on a giant bird, so Ken shrugged it off as justified.

As they landed, Ken realized that most of these people were wearing some kind of winter gear. He had no idea why, but he felt pretty warm despite the relentless snow and wind that was raining down on them. Yuki wasn’t shivering either, so she must not have been cold as well.

The two of them got off, their boots making a crunching sound as they sank into the snow. Looking around, they only had one word to say: “Hi.”

A tall man with short black hair and a thick brown jacket stepped forward. “Greetings, travellers! I am Julius, chief of our humble village Eulogia. And who, may I ask, are you two?”

“My name’s Yuki, and this here is Ken.” Yuki told him.

As a number of the people around them gasped, Julius looked unconcerned. “Ah, so you two are on the quest, huh? Almost all the ones chosen for the quests passed through here.”

“Really?” both of them asked in unison.

Julius smiled. “Indeed.” Looking at their light clothes, he shook his head. “You two must be cold. Please, come inside. However, your…bird creature cannot fit into our buildings. Do you mind if we take him to our stable?”

“No problem.” Ken told him. “Speaking of which, we haven’t even named him yet. Yuki, do you have anything you want to name him?”

Yuki thought long and hard. “Uhh…no idea.”

Ken scratched his head. “I’ll just call him Bud then.”

“Sounds good to me.” Yuki responded.

As the newly-christened “Bud” was led away, Julius guided the two of them into one of the many cabins that dotted the village.

 

“So, what brings you two here?” Julius asked them.

“Well, we really just came here to restock our supplies.” Ken told him. “You know, food, equipment, and the like.”

The request brought back a strange memory. Ken’s father had once told them that back in his time, the Gods had introduced a strange system they called “money”, where you would give people little units of currency in exchange for goods and such. However, to their surprise, the entire planet had rejected it. People just made things for themselves, and offered them to those who needed them. Ken thought that the very notion of “money” was ridiculous. Yuki thought that such a system would only be needed if the world was full of selfish beings, and her world as far as she knew wasn’t.

“Well, lucky for you, we’ve got a lot of stuff lying around.” Julius told them. “Later, you can go and restock. For now, though, just relax and enjoy your stay.”

“Thank you, sir.” Ken said, bowing his head respectfully.

“Question?” Yuki asked. “You said that all the chosen ones passed through here.”

“Indeed! Every two years, another pair of people show up here.” Julius explained. “They were all different shapes and sizes; some young, some old, and everything in between. Their reasons for coming here were vastly different. Some needed rest, others supplies like you. Some just wanted to relax, and some wanted to help us fend off the Mechanoids. All they had in common was that they went in the direction of that temple place and sadly never came back. 

“Electi Terram.” Yuki breathed. “Our final destination.”

Ken looked a bit interested. “It’s very snowy here. From what I’ve heard, crops don’t grow very well in cold weather. How do you manage to get by here?”

A spark of amusement glinted in Julius’ eyes. “Oh, that’s an interesting tale, actually! In essence, our village started off rather weak and small. The weather, as you said, didn’t permit us to grow crops and the like. So, the Gods saw and intervened. They would show up every now and then to give us blessings like food. My dad once took me out to see one of said blessings in the making. It was incredible! Imagine a loaf of bread, but the size of an entire mountain! That’s what the Gods would give us!”

“That’s incredible!” Yuki exclaimed. “Did it taste good?”

“She’s a food person.” Ken added. “Great cook.”

Julius laughed. “Not really, to be honest. It’s just plain old bread.” 

“Bread can taste good too!” Yuki objected.

“Not everyone dumps ridiculous amounts of random condiments and fruits into their bread, Yuki.” Ken said snidely.

“Shut up, Ken! You just don’t know anything about good food.”

Julius seemed amused with their bickering. “Anyhow, the food and resources gave us the strength to survive, and we eventually built up our village. We made buildings to grow crops and livestock, and our animals adapted for the cold weather. I’ve heard that some don’t really like the idea of the Gods presiding over everything, but I don’t really care. All of us owe this entire village to them, and we are grateful for what we have been given.”

“I guess you’re right.” Ken told him.

“Maybe we should be grateful for being sent on this quest.” Yuki mused. “Maybe.”

Julius looked like he was going to respond, but an attendant came in and mumbled something in his ear. He raised his eyebrows. “That thing fell over? Again? I should really give a speech about not trying to use our lampposts as vantage points.” He glanced at Yuki and Ken. “I’ve got to go take care of an…unfortunate incident. You two go ahead and do whatever you need to do.”

And with that, he left the building.

 

An hour later, Yuki and Ken were loading a crate of supplies into the bags strapped to their Griff. The villagers had, indeed, been in possession of an abnormally large amount of spare goods, and they had been more than happy to lend it to the pair of young adventurers.

Yuki was beaming from ear to ear. “That was really nice of them! Letting us use their stuff like that!”

“Heh, I guess.” Ken replied. “I was really thinking why the Gods even thought we needed some kind of currency. We just give stuff to each other, right?”

“True.” Yuki responded, burying her face into a piece of bread.

Their eyes turned towards a source of noise nearby. Looking there, they saw a number of young children that couldn’t have been over ten, playing in the snow.

Yuki looked at them curiously. They seemed to be having a lot of fun. “Ken?”

“What is it, Yuki?”

“Can I go play with them?” Yuki asked, a bit abashedly. “I know it sounds kind of stupid, but we’ve never seen this much snow before, and it looks like they’re having tons of fun…”

“Sure!”

Yuki blanched. “Really?”

“You don’t have to ask me, Yuki! If you want to go play, play!” Ken told her. “Actually…I want to experience the fun of snow as well. I’m coming with you.”

Yuki laughed like she was a child again and hugged Ken before dragging him by the hand over to the place where the kids were standing. Looking at them, they seemed to be throwing snow at each other. They hadn’t noticed the arrival of the two older youths yet, and kept up their game with vigor.

“Hey, it looks like some kind of snow fight. I wonder if – HEY!” Yuki yelled as Ken tossed a balled-up lump of snow into her face. She spat out snow and gave him a friendly glare. “So is that how you want to play it? I’m in my element right now!”

Ken laughed. “I think you might have read your name wrong again.”

“Shut up! That was the whole point!” Yuki yelled playfully. “Are you  _ trying  _ to pick a fight?”   


Ken grinned again. “If you’re up for it, I’ll accept your challenge!”

“Well,” she said, picking up a snowball, “Here I come!”

“Bring it on!” Ken yelled.

So, the two of them started lobbing snow at each other as if their lives depended on it. The kids nearby noticed and came to look at them in awe.  Both of them laughed and screamed hysterically as they pelted each other with the fluffy snow, and both of them knew that this was the most fun they had ever had in their entire lives. The kids nearby gasped as both of them drew their weapons, and with a wave of their swords levitated a massive amount of snow before shaping them into balls and firing them at each other. The children, looking on in surprise, started laughing and joined the fight as well.

The snowy slugfest lasted for about twenty minutes, and at the end of the chaos Ken and Yuki lay down on the snowy ground and laughed. Their clothes were completely soaked and they were mostly numb from the amount of cold snow that had been launched in their faces, but they didn’t care.

“Now that…was fantastic.” Ken breathed.

“You said it,” Yuki replied. “That was so much fun! We all know I was winning, though.”

Ken laughed. “Oh, shut up. I could have taken way more than that.”

“Really now?”

As the two of them just lay in the snow and joked together, Julius watched them from an overhead window and smiled. Even though they were feisty warriors undertaking an impossible quest, deep inside they were still young and deserved time to play. He shook his head sadly. If the quest didn’t exist, those two would have had a bright future ahead of them.

 

Julius walked out of the village market, having just quelled a dispute having to do with a bread bargain, and saw the Radiant Swords getting on their flying mount. He walked up to them. “You looked like you were having a lot of fun there! Leaving?”

“Yes, sir.” Ken responded. “We have rested and resupplied, and for that we thank you.”

“Yes. And also, we had a ton of fun there.” Yuki added.

Julius just nodded. “We are glad we were of assistance. Anyways…” he trailed off as a gong sounded. Screaming was beginning to spread through the village.

“What is it?” Yuki yelled, jumping off of the Griff.

Julius looked grave. “Mechanoid attack.” He glanced over at the two of them. “Get out of here before they come. We can handle this.”

Ken practically exploded. “Are you insane? There’s no way we’re just leaving you. We will help you!”

“It’s too dangerous. Please leave!” Julius said urgently.

“Listen, we have fought these machines before. We have trained to defeat them.” Yuki told him. “Please, let us help you.”

There was a moment of silence before Julius begrudgingly relented. “Alright.”

The two of them quickly pulled out their swords and rushed to the source of the screaming.

Soon enough, they arrived at the village square, where countless people were fleeing from one specific spot. Sure enough, there was an explosion, and several Sentinels emerged from the smoke, blades ignited.

Ken yelled and charged at them. As the machines turned towards him, he went to town, shearing through their armor with his magic blade. The Sentinels attempted to fight back, but it was clear that the Mechanoid foot soldiers were sorely outmatched. Ken deftly avoided their glowing swords and tore through them like a hurricane, felling one Sentinel per strike.

Yuki, on the other hand, saw several Sentinels slip past Ken and run at the fleeing civilians. With a shout, she ran at them, blade raised. The first one was about to cut down a family of three when Yuki jumped in and blocked its blade with her own. As sparks flew, Yuki gritted her teeth and jumped aside, using a horizontal slash to cleanly decapitate it. As the rest of the Sentinels charged, Yuki launched a blue beam that shattered on impact, the glowing shards tearing through the remaining Sentinels.

Yuki breathed a sigh of relief as the civilians continued evacuating. Militants had arrived, wielding various bows and melee weapons. In the back stood Julius himself, armed with an extremely heavy-looking crossbow. As the commanders barked orders, the men started pushing back the metallic menaces. While they were nowhere as powerful as Ken or Yuki by virtue of not having magic, they were trained and deadly.

“We’ve got them pushed back, Ken!” Yuki yelled.

Ken ran over to her. “Don’t get cocky! The worst is probably yet to come!”

He was right – less than ten seconds later, a huge squad of different machines charged from the smoking rubble of a nearby butcher shop. They all were about the same size – slightly taller than Ken – and shared a humanoid body shape, albeit with small cannons for arms. The main differences between them was the color of their visors and the glowing lights on their bodies: red, blue, and yellow.

A glimmer of uncertainty surfaced in Ken’s eyes. “Magnus told us about these. The Flare, Glacier and Tesla units. Lightly armored but said to be able to manipulate the elements themselves.”

To prove a point, a red Flare raised its arms, and jets of flame spewed out of them, melting a blackened strip through the snowy ground. A blue Glacier nearby spat out a stream of bluish energy from its arm cannon that caused spikes of ice to grow out of the impact zone, scaring away the soldiers that had happened to occupy that zone before. 

Meanwhile, as Yuki noticed an Flare advancing on a nearby platoon, she ran towards them, only for a Tesla to step in her way. She brandished her katana.

Ken placed a hand on her shoulder. “Yuki, we need to take these guys together. Don’t just run off like that. These guys aren’t the same as the Sentinels.”

Yuki nodded in agreement, and Ken raised his sword as well.

The Tesla emitted a metallic screech as it raised its arms. Lightning began to crackle from the tips, and it blasted a stream of electricity from them. Yuki raised her sword and projected a blue shield around the two, causing the electricity to fizzle out.

Ken yelled and engaged the machine in combat. The Tesla unloaded a rapid barrage of electric shots that Ken barely avoided. He struck the machine, only to yelp in pain and drop his sword.

“Ken!” Yuki yelled as she ran at his aggressor, firing a spear of golden light. The Tesla turned around to get a faceful of magic, causing its head to explode.

Yuki ran over to her downed friend. “You okay?”

Ken groaned and picked up his sword. “That hurt. Those Teslas are constantly buzzing with lightning. Maybe I shouldn’t try a direct attack on them.”

A Flare attacked, and Yuki countered its furious flame burst using a blast of energy from her sword. Ken added in a beam of red light, and the machine stumbled. Ken then rushed forward and slashed, tearing its torso in half.

“Any ideas on their weaknesses?” Yuki asked.

“Hmm. Well, according to Magnus’ book, they can run out of fuel.” Ken mused. “The Teslas can draw power from the static around them, but the others can’t replenish it. In addition, the Flares and Glaciers have vulnerable fuel tanks on their backs.”

To prove a point, when the next Flare attacked them Yuki ducked behind it and fired a bolt at the cylindrical object on its back. Sure enough, the tank exploded, taking the Flare with it in a spectacular fireball.

Ken grinned and charged into the fray, with Yuki right behind them.

For all of their super-advanced weaponry, the Mechanoids didn’t seem to be too good at using it. Ken and Yuki tore through the machines like a force of nature. A Glacier spewed out a torrent of freezing energy, which Ken blasted with a wave of heat before severing their fuel tanks and doing the same with their heads. Several Teslas unleashed an electrical discharge aimed at Yuki, who deflected it off another shield before separating their legs and torsos with a well-placed magical slash. While dodging the indiscriminate sprays of fire, ice, and lightning was nigh-impossible, Yuki and Ken’s magical abilities allowed them to shield themselves from what they could not avoid.

While the village military had been pushed back by the elemental bots, the Radiant Swords’ efforts allowed them to push back with renewed vigor. Arrows flew through the air, piercing Mechanoids and felling them as their melee strikes similarly met their mark. Julius himself calmly aimed his heavy crossbow, felling a machine with each shot. Soon, most of the Mechanoids had been eliminated and the military was retaking the square.

“Wow, you two are really something!” a random soldier told the Radiant Swords.

“What is that? Are you two magical?” another shouted.

“Thanks!” Yuki said abashedly as Ken smiled sheepishly.

Then he started. “Hey Yuki, do you feel that?”

“Huh?”

Yuki touched the now-scorched ground. Indeed, there was something odd about it. A faint vibration was shaking the ground...one that was getting stronger with each passing second.

Julius groaned. “Oh, that thing’s back again.”

“What?” Ken asked.

His question was answered when a massive shape burst out of the ground in front of him, showering them all with earth and snow. He looked up to see a gigantic machine that vaguely resembled a huge serpent. Purplish-pink lights punctuated its dark silvery body as it emitted a rapid clicking sound from its mouth. It turned its face towards them, revealing a massive set of shear-like jaws framing a maw of rotating blades and lethal pincers. A single pink eye the size of Ken’s head glared at them menacingly as the machine let out a horrific shriek.

“What in the name of the Gods is that?” Yuki screamed.

“That thing’s a Devourer!” Julius yelled. “A giant, nasty worm that digs through the earth to ambush us. That thing’s been plaguing the village for some time now. This is the second time it’s appeared this week!”

“Why has it only bothered attacking here?” Ken yelled.

Julius shrugged. “Well, apparently the Gods said they sent a more powerful wave of Mechanoids to our village to compensate for the blessings they gave us. It’s only fair, in my opinion. The Gods both give and take, after all. But the thing’s been really bothersome as of late. It’s almost as if it suddenly decided to attack more frequently!”

“Well, we know what that means,” Ken growled. “We’re going to take it down!”

As the Devourer shrieked again, Ken ran at it and slashed at its serpentine body. Any lesser Mechanoid would have been chopped in half by that, but all Ken succeeded in doing was denting its armor. The machine roared and snapped at the boy, who jumped back and attacked again, this time using magic to superheat his blade’s edge. While the strike left a smouldering gash this time, the amount of damage was about the same.

“Alright, the mere fact that this thing shrugged off that hit means it’s a pretty dangerous fellow.” Ken shouted as the Devourer struck again, burying its head in the ground. “Yuki, don’t underestimate it!”

The Devourer began spinning and dug its way underground. Julius fired a crossbow bolt at it, which dented its armor again. As its spiked tail disappeared, the group of fighters looked around frantically.

“Don’t panic!” Julius yelled. “Hold your ranks!”

There was a shout as the machine burst out of the ground again. This time, numerous armor plates on its body unfolded, revealing countless blasters underneath. With a screech, the Devourer unleashed a massive barrage of crimson blasts. Ken and Yuki ducked for cover as the soldiers held up their metal shields to block the barrage. Julius ducked out of the way and fired another bolt that severed the joint of one of the guns, causing it to fall to the ground.

Yuki launched a barrage of green bolts that engulfed the Devourer’s body in explosions. The robot roared and directed all of its lasers at the girl, who raised a shield in response. Yet as the Devourer pounded her shield with hundreds of lasers, it was obvious that it was weakening at an alarming rate.

“Yuki!” Ken yelled, running towards her.

The Devourer opened its jaws and snapped at the faltering shield, shattering it with a single blow. As the impact knocked Yuki on her back, Ken rushed over and launched a fireball at the beast before it could eviscerate her. While it didn’t do too much damage, it distracted the machine long enough for Ken to drag her to safety.

Julius reached for another bolt, only to find that he had no more. Growling, he put away his crossbow and drew a large, two-handed broadsword. “Soldiers, switch to explosive arrows! The collateral damage is no longer a consideration. Our only objective is to destroy this machine! As for me,” he said, raising his weapon, “I’ll fight alongside you!”

“Sir, that’s too dangerous!” a soldier yelled, tackling Julius back before he could charge in.

“Chief, we need you! We insist that you retreat to a safer location!” another shouted.

Julius groaned. “What kind of chief doesn’t fight with his men?”

“One that understands his importance.” the first soldier told him. “You are a strong fighter with a will of steel, but we cannot afford to lose you. Please, go back.”

Julius looked like he was about to say something, but eventually nodded and began falling back.

Ken looked back at the Devourer to see the worm bearing down on him. He raised his sword and launched a burst of flame, which scorched the thing’s head as it reared back in apparent pain. Yuki followed up with a precise slash to several of its cannons, tearing them from its body. The Devourer shrieked as it tunneled underground once more.

Ken ran up to Yuki. “You okay?”

“I’m good, thanks.” Yuki replied. She raised her sword again. “Where’d it go?”

She got her answer half a second later when the Devourer burst out of the ground, sending both of them sprawling. A soldier nearby fired a flaming arrow that exploded violently upon striking the worm’s metallic hide, and the thing screeched as it turned its head towards him. As the machine glared down at the comparatively tiny soldier, he reached for an arrow, only to realize that he was out. He dropped his bow and began shaking with fear.

“Leave him alone!” Ken yelled as he got up and shot out another fireball. He was then assailed by another laser bombardment for his troubles and had to shield himself.

Yuki rushed in to protect the man, but the Devourer simply knocked her aside with its head as it kept its eye fixated on its prey. Yuki went tumbling through the snow and landed on her back. She watched on in horror as the machine roared and struck like a wrecking ball.

Yuki had heard various stories of Mechanoid-inflicted deaths before, but this was the first time she had actually seen someone die. And it was far more horrific than she imagined.

For lack of a better term, the poor man was shredded. The Devourer’s jaws and serrated teeth tore through his body like it was made of paper and all but liquefied him. Blood splattered everywhere, staining the snow red. As Yuki watched on, the machine dislodged the mangled remains of the soldier from its jaws and flung them aside, sending a shower of blood cascading over the girl.

Yuki could do nothing more than cover her mouth and scream as tears began to roll down her face. Behind her, Ken breathed heavily, glaring at the Devourer.

“Damn you,” Ken growled, raising his sword. “You will pay for what you did!”

He stabbed the Devourer in one of its damaged segments, tearing a hole in it. The machine shrieked again, directing its lasers back towards him. As Ken ducked, several more soldiers showered it with explosive arrows, causing it to rear back in pain.

“Back away! That thing’s going to target you!” Ken yelled at the men, only for the Devourer to lunge at him and attempt to bisect him. Ken dodged, causing the thing to get its head stuck in the ground. As Ken struck its now-vulnerable eye, cracking it, the Devourer emitted a horrific scream as it burrowed through the ground again. Ken prepared for another strike, only for the now-exposed, wickedly sharp tail of the beast to whip around and score a direct hit. The metal appendage speared him right in the stomach and sent him flying into a building, where he impacted hard and screamed out loud. He could feel his bones crack on impact, and he was fairly certain that the tail had inflicted some kind of puncture wound.

The machine resurfaced to a barrage of explosive arrows. It turned to the soldiers and roared.

“Don’t…touch them!” Ken breathed, launching a fireball that fizzled out before it even reached the Devourer. His desperation was causing his magic to falter, and as much as he tried, he was in no shape to battle yet. The snow around him was slowly turning red.

But a machine built to kill could not feel mercy.

What followed next was the bloodiest massacre Ken had ever seen. Without the two magically-trained warriors fighting with them, the soldiers had nothing to spare them from the Devourer’s wrath. The worm shredded one man with laser fire before turning around and messily tearing another in half. It bloodily tore an archer limb from limb, then rammed its head into another man, pinning him to a building with a sickening crunch before causing it to collapse on him. As it was peppered with more arrows, it seemed to show signs of weakening before digging underground again. As the soldiers looked around, bows raised, the Devourer sprang up from underneath one man, shredding him in a shower of blood, metal and mangled flesh with its blender of a mouth. The last two men aimed and fired again before beginning to run away from the village, no doubt to lure the machine away with their final breaths. The Devourer shot one of them in the leg with a beam before brutally eviscerating him with its jaws. As the last soldier looked on in fear, the machine shrieked and charged.

Ken suppressed the desire to throw up. Seeing those men, who had done nothing wrong, be murdered in such a violent fashion horrified and disgusted him. As he tried to get up, tears instinctively began to roll down his face - tears caused by an irrational guilt which swelled forth from his heart, gripping his very soul like some kind of curse. Had he been stronger, would those men have needed to die? If he had tried harder, could he have saved them?

“Don’t…you…DARE!” Yuki screamed, hurtling towards the machine at top speed. As it turned around to the source of the noise, she created a rune at her feet, using it to launch herself onto the thing’s head. As the Devourer looked up, Yuki landed hard on its eye, raised her sword, and began repeatedly stabbing it over and over again. Against such an onslaught, the eye shattered easily, and the Devourer screamed in pain. Yuki then jumped off and signaled the last soldier. “Run! I’ll handle this!”

The soldier got the message and ran out of the area. 

The Devourer roared and pointed its lasers in the direction of the soldier, but without its eye its shots fired indiscriminately. Yuki received a laser to her left arm and yelped in pain, but grit her teeth and sucked it up. Willing her blade to glow with heat, she targeted a critically damaged joint on the Devourer’s neck and slashed. The joint snapped like a twig, and the Devourer found its head separated from its body. The colossal worm let out a final, ear-splitting shriek before collapsing and erupting into violent explosions, its lights extinguished for the last time.

Yuki fell to her knees amidst the blood-soaked snow and began sobbing. Ken managed to drag himself over to his friend, but when he got there he had no words to say. After all, he had just witnessed the horrific deaths the Devourer had caused alongside her.

Suddenly, Yuki enveloped Ken in a tearful hug. Ken, although surprised, gently wrapped his arms around her in an attempt to comfort her.

She looked at her bloody hands. “I could have saved them…instead, I just sat there like an idiot.” Yuki muttered. “If I had been braver, those soldiers wouldn’t have needed to die. Nobody would have needed to die.” 

Ken instinctively felt tears come to his eyes as well. While he tried to remain strong for his friend’s sake, deep inside he felt the same way. Although he had been injured, he could have still fought. Not to mention that if he had been a better fighter to begin with, he could have easily saved those men. The guilt wracked his entire being.

He noticed that Yuki’s arm had a noticeable, sizzling wound in it from the stray laser that had hit it, and became aware that his stomach felt like it had been run through. “Yuki, let’s get back to the town. Both of us need medical assistance. We’ve been through a lot, I know.”

“I just hope that the villagers forgive us.” Yuki mumbled.

Before they left, however, both of them tracked down each soldier the mechanical worm had killed. Whenever they reached one, they would recite a ceremonial funeral prayer for them before closing their eyes. Not all the bodies were intact. Most were piles of mangled flesh and limbs, and some were reduced to a slurry of blood and visceral pulp. But as gruesome and lengthy as the process was, the Radiant Swords were still determined to pay their respects to the fallen heroes. 

After that, they left to go meet the villagers again, hoping that they would be pardoned.

 

As the Radiant Swords dragged themselves back to the part of the town where most of the villagers had been evacuated to, they returned amidst great cheers. The two of them, however, felt far from cheerful.

Julius ran up to them. “You two are alive! Thank the Gods!”

To his utter bewilderment, the two of them collapsed in front of him and began crying their eyes out.

“We’re sorry!” Yuki bawled.

“We have failed you.” Ken mumbled.

Julius was stunned. “What are you talking about? You two just saved the village!”

“But we…we weren’t strong enough.” Ken said. “We could have stopped the machine faster. But instead, we allowed it to murder a lot of good men.”

“I just stood there.” Yuki continued. “I could have saved those people, but instead I just...” She trailed off. “A lot more people would get to see their families again if it weren't for me.”

Julius looked completely flabbergasted. He knelt down to eye level. “You haven’t ever seen anyone die in front of you, have you?” When they shook their heads, he hung his. “You poor things. I know how that feels, to have someone you could have possibly saved die before your eyes. As chief of Eulogia, I have seen good men and women rise and fall. And while it feels bad, you cannot let it weigh you down. I’ve seen enough death for a lifetime, and every time I pray to the Gods that I may not see any more. But I haven’t let that slow me down, and you shouldn’t either. Do you understand me, children?”

Yuki looked up with teary eyes. “I guess. Will you and your citizens forgive us?”

“You need not forgiveness.” Julius responded, amidst the unanimous nods of the crowd. “Believe me when I say that there is nobody on this entire planet who wouldn’t be grateful for what you just did. In the struggle against the Mechanoids, it is natural for soldiers to fall on the battlefield. But what you have done is save our entire town from destruction. Believe me, if you two weren’t here, the Devourer would have slain everyone here instead of just those soldiers. We are thankful for your service. Do not feel indebted to us, for we are the ones who should feel indebted to you.”

Ken simply stared into space while Yuki tried for a smile. “Thank you.”

Julius smiled back and helped them up. “Now, it’s getting late. I’m sure everyone has had a rough day, and today just so happens to be our public banquet.” As murmurs surfaced amidst the crowd of people, he turned towards Yuki. “Your friend said you were a proficient chef. Would you mind showcasing your talents tonight?”

Yuki actually managed a laugh this time. “Would I mind? I would love to cook tonight!”

Ken looked at her arm. “You may want to get that hole in your arm patched though.”

The girl looked over to see that indeed, her arm had a scorched, bleeding wound in it. “Oh.” 

She looked at Ken, who practically had a hole through his stomach. “ _ Oh. _ ”

As they both passed out from exhaustion, Julius urgently rushed them to the medical department. How they hadn’t noticed before, he had no idea.

Afterwards, Julius contemplated what he had just told the kids. He believed in what he said, of course, but he was wondering why everyone in this world was so humble. Every hero he had met had always put others before themselves, and some had even risked their lives for his village, all without any concern for their own well-being. In fact, he had risked his life for his village many, many times, but every time he did, someone else would risk their life for his in turn. It was baffling. The mere thought of putting his own interests before someone else’s made him cringe in annoyance.

Julius sighed. He looked up into the sky, which had just begun to dispense snow. If the people of this planet were so humble, then surely the world of the Gods would be a utopia, right?

 

Alice breathed a shaky sigh of relief. “That was a close one for them.”   


Next to her, Michael sighed in return. “That was the first real challenge they got on their quest. Yet they overcame it. It’s a good sign for those two.”

The blonde girl shook her head. “Nobody should have to witness things like what had just happened there. Those poor children will be scarred for life.”

“Is that really such a big deal?” Michael asked. “They lived.”

Alice couldn’t suppress her anger at his insensitiveness. “It is, Michael! If it weren’t for  _ your _ grandfather and his crazy fantasies, those two could have lived a happy, fulfilling life! Can’t you even feel  _ any _ sympathy for them at all?”

Alice realized too late that she had went too far, because Michael suddenly became quiet. He was looking down, and his eyes were filled with disbelief and anger.

“I...I’m sorry.” Alice whispered. “I got carried away…”   


Michael looked up again, the look in his eyes replaced with one of melancholy. “It’s okay. I’m sure you didn’t mean it. But please…just don’t say that about my grandfather. I respect him a great deal, and I’m sure he was a good man deep down.”

“What’s going on here?” came the voice of a mildly annoyed Tobias from the door.

“Nothing, sir.” Alice told him quietly.

Tobias simply shook his head to show them how much he believed them, but decided not to push it any further. Michael’s grandfather had been one of the first researchers of the planet, and while he was a genius, he had done some...questionable things. Michael himself had been aimlessly wandering through life when Tobias found him and recruited him. While he was every bit as smart as his grandfather, the others were not willing to let him off easily for his grandfather’s actions. Tobias had already asked that the others stop bothering him so much, but to be honest Michael had his own issues to work around before the issues of others could be considered. 

Tobias sighed. He wasn’t going to think about this too much. Besides, he already had something on his mind - his long-overdue meeting with the Radiant Swords.

 

Ken opened the door to the kitchen and dashed inside, only to slip on a fruit peel.

Only a couple meters in front of him, Yuki giggled. “Again? How many times will you learn to walk in slowly and carefully?” she asked. “This is at least the fourth time I’ve managed to get you with that!”

Ken groaned, slowly getting up and dusting himself off. “Well, for most  _ normal _ individuals, I would have no reason to suspect of a fruit peel conveniently placed behind a door. I guess that’s my fault for assuming you were one of them?”   


Yuki just shook her head annoyedly, although her smile betrayed her. “Shut up, Ken.”

It had been about two hours since the Radiant Swords had been discharged from the Eulogian General Hospital. They suspected that it had something to do with their magic, but they seemed to have healed far faster than they were supposed to. Now, as promised, Yuki had taken up the challenge of making food for the public banquet, and Ken had dropped in to provide encouragement.

Yuki ambled around the kitchen haphazardly, using her magic to gather up ingredients and tools that she would use to cook. Gathering all necessary components, she turned back to a large gas stove with a pot sitting atop it and an open book lying beside it. Ken caught a glimpse of the book and saw what Yuki was trying to make - it was some kind of spaghetti, with a complex-looking seasoning and peppered with thin slices of meat.

Yuki noticed her friend staring at the book. “You think I chose one that was too hard?”

“No way.” Ken told her confidently. “I’m sure that you’re up to the task.”

Taking a deep breath, Yuki dumped a pile of herbs on a wooden chopping board before grabbing a wicked-looking chef’s knife. With incredible speed and flawless precision, she chopped the herbs into a fine powder and swept them into a bowl she had prepared. Grabbing a large cylinder of what appeared to be meat, she sliced it into innumerable thin slices using her knife and immediately swept them into another bowl.

Ken watched on in awe. Even after watching her do this for almost his entire life, he still had no idea how Yuki was able to maneuver her cooking implements so perfectly. While they were generally quite competitive about anything they did together, Ken knew that the chances of him even coming close to Yuki’s cooking skill were near zero.   


Yuki waved her hand over the pot on the stove to check its temperature. Huffing an impatient sigh, she raised a hand as her eyes began to glow blue. The cooking pot immediately began to heat up. The water she had prepared inside the pot almost instantly reached a boil, and Yuki wasted no time in throwing in a large bundle of spaghetti. As the noodles cooked, Yuki stirred them and tapped her boot idly. After ten minutes, Ken was about to remind her that she still had a job to do when she suddenly turned around and fished the spaghetti out of the pot as if operating on an internal timer. Placing the spaghetti on a frying pan, she poured the slices of meat into the pan and, with immaculate precision and control, tossed them with some oil and seasoning for several minutes. About a minute later, Yuki had piled the spaghetti and meat slices onto a large plate and sprinkled the herbs on top.   


She sighed contentedly and looked at Ken, who flashed her a thumbs-up.

“Do you think that’s enough?” Yuki asked him. “I tried to make a lot…”

“I’d just roll with it.” Ken replied. “Besides, it looks - and smells - amazing. With something like this, having enough of it will remain a distant concept.”   


Yuki bowed her head. “Aww. Thanks, Ken.”

Ken used magic to grab the plate, and looked towards the door to the main hall where the entire village was sure to be waiting. “So, Yuki. Are you ready for the big reveal?”

Yuki flashed a confident grin. “I’ll win their taste buds, count on it!”

 

Several hours later, Yuki lay sprawled out in the snow on the outskirts of the town. She had just wowed the entire village with her culinary talent, and had eaten enough herself for her to feel satisfied both in body and mind. She heard a crunching noise behind her, but didn’t even bother to turn around as Ken lay down beside her with a plate of her spaghetti. 

“You really did a good job there, Yuki.” Ken told her. “Julius and the others loved your food.”

“Thanks a lot.” Yuki replied. “I just love to cook, really.”

As they stared into the cloudy night sky, Ken noted that it was devoid of all light. He recalled a myth that his father had told him, about how their ancestors used to see countless twinkling lights in the night. For some reason, they were nowhere to be found now. He sighed, wondering what a night filled with glowing motes of light would look like.

“Ken?” Yuki asked.

“What is it?” Ken replied.

“…Do you think that Julius was right to have us forget about what happened before?”

Ken thought about it. “I wouldn’t say forget it. We will remember the lives that were lost to the Mechanoids, but we shouldn’t let it stop our mission. What was it that Magnus said again? If you cling to the past long enough, the past will cling to you.”

Yuki looked a bit uneasy. “I’m finding it a bit hard to let go.”

Suddenly, a voice spoke in their headsets. “You have every right to feel that way.”

The Radiant Swords sat up quickly. Looking up, they saw the silhouette of a giant face in the night sky, this time the face of the God’s leader, Tobias. They promptly got to their feet and bowed. “Lord Tobias.”

Tobias looked down on them from above. “Greetings. Like I said, you kids have every right to be a bit upset about what just happened. I must say that I have had the luxury of never having something like this happen to me, so I cannot speak for you.”   


“Really?” Yuki asked. “Life in your world must be peaceful, then.”   


Tobias sighed, trying to ignore his teammates’ bickering in the background. “It’s...not as good as you think, really. In fact, I have wished to live on your world before.”   


“Why would you want to live here though?” Ken asked. “You’re a God!”   


Tobias seemed deep in thought. “Truth be told, being a god isn’t so great. To be honest, you two are probably greater than I will ever be.”

“What? How?” Yuki asked. “We’re so small and weak compared to you!”

“Size doesn’t matter when it comes to matters of your strength and heart.” Tobias told them. “Your combat ability has shown us that your skill far surpasses that of a human, and your behavior shows us that you are far more selfless and compassionate than any of us has come close to. To be honest, I sometimes wish I could be one of you.”

“Really now? I’m honored that you would say that, sir.” Ken said abashedly.

“Surely, being a God has its perks, right?” Yuki asked.

“You do get to name things, and I love incorporating language into your world. I’ve named an innumerable number of settlements, landmarks, even Nanos like yourselves. Speaking of which, do you know the meanings of your names?”   


“Yeah we do. They’re in one of your languages. Japanese, I think?” Yuki told him.   


“Indeed.” Tobias said. “Yuki no Hikari, the Light of Courage. Ken Hoshizora, the Starry Sword. Together, you two became known as the Radiant Swords, both for your names and for your impressive swordsmanship.” Then, with a small smirk, he continued. “I’m fairly sure your family names were conceived by someone before my time - maybe it was even my parents, or my grandparents. But did you know that I was actually the one to make up your first names?”   


“Wait, what?” Ken asked. “You did?”

“Yes, I did. Both of your parents coincidentally went to the nearby shrine and asked me personally for names. So I gave them suggestions, and they chose the ones you have now. While I had no idea what you would become when you grew older, I just thought those names were pretty cool. Funny thing, isn’t it?”   


The Radiant Swords were stunned. “Wow. We had no idea.”   


Tobias laughed. “But I think they’re pretty fitting, wouldn’t you agree?”   


“Is that why you chose us for the quest, sir?” Ken asked.   


“Hmm. Well, May chose you, but I will admit I had secretly wanted you two to be the ones.” Tobias said. “You two are strong, feisty youth, and like the rest of your species you are unceasingly humble and kind. And of course, you are exceptionally close. All in all, two Nanos with an exceedingly high chance of passing this quest.”   


“But why are we even on this quest, sir?” Yuki asked.   


“That is a story I do not wish to tell.” Tobias said grimly, a dark look creeping into his eyes. “A while ago, a particular one of us had decreed the laws behind the quests. That is all I can say. Believe me when I say not telling you the details is mercy.”   


“Okay…” Ken muttered.

“Hey,” Yuki asked. “Did you really send those advanced Mechanoids like the Devourer here just to balance out the village’s blessings, like Julius said?”

Tobias was stunned. “Er...yes. We saw the village grow prosperous through our assistance, and we wished to see if it could handle a threat like this. The Devourer is a fairly high-level Mechanoid, and we were curious to see if the village was up to the task of defeating it.”

“Forgive me for asking, but...why did you need to do that?” Yuki asked. “It’s not like every good thing that happens  _ needs _ to have an equally bad thing to balance it out. You could have just left the village be, and that worm wouldn’t have killed so many people.”

The deity was at a loss for words. “Well...I’m not going to try to justify that. We were simply curious and a bit rash. Why we were curious, I do not wish to say.”

“...Okay?” Yuki quietly replied. “Don’t worry, we’re sure you had a good reason to.”

Tobias turned around as if for looking for someone, then turned back urgently. “I have to go. Best of luck to you two.”   


And with that, he was gone.   


Yuki sighed. “I wish the gods would explain things to us a bit better.”   


Ken just shook his head. “Don’t worry about it too much.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was my first experience with writing violence of a more graphic nature. I suppose everything has a first.
> 
> The Devourer was inspired by my experiences with a certain video game boss. God, I hated that thing so much...


	6. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was one of the few things that wasn't outlined in my dream, making it a relatively new addition to the storyline. I had considered scrapping it, but I decided to keep it because why the hell not.

Michael groaned as he continued typing, as he had been for the last hour. He had been working on some report to send back to Earth for almost four total hours now.

“How’s it going?” Diana asked from behind him.

Michael sighed. “I’m almost done. Just ironing out some final statements.”

“Well, in the time you’ve been typing, I’ve asked May to try typing her own report.” Diana told him. “And she’s already done.”

“Wait, what?” Michael asked incredulously.

May entered the room, holding a stack of papers. Michael read them over and nodded. “These are really good. Better than mine, even. Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”

“Well, because I just wanted May to try writing a professional document.” Diana continued. “And turns out that you’ve taken an abnormally long time to write yours. So Tobias decided to use hers instead.” She gave Michael a smug grin. “It’s pretty odd, really. I had no idea that you could be outstripped by even a mere child, Michael.”

Michael opened his mouth, then shut it while grumbling angrily.

Diana left the room, and May walked over to him. “Don’t take it too hard. I’m sure miss Diana didn’t mean anything bad by that. If you want, we can still use yours...”

Michael couldn’t help but smile. Tobias and May seemed to be the only teammates who actually bothered to consider his feelings. “Hey, kiddo. I appreciate your sentiments, but your work really is something. Go ahead and use it.”

May nodded. “Also, I met those two kids yesterday!”

Michael smiled again, although a bit more forced. He had no idea why everyone was making such a big deal over those two specks. “Oh. How was it?”

“They’re really nice, and their magic is so cool!” May exclaimed. “Also, they called me a goddess. Is that normal?”

“Of course that’s normal, kid!” Michael laughed. “To them, you _are_ a goddess! You’re big enough to hold their entire planet in your hands!”

“Well…” May trailed off, “I felt that role required a bit more than just my size. I don’t need to be respected, or worshipped, or anything! To be totally honest, I don’t even want to monitor those two. I just want to be friends with them!”

Michael was a bit intrigued. “Really now? I personally love that feeling. To be looked upon by an entire world as its deity...that’s something few can boast of having experienced.”

“I guess, but I’m not too concerned about that.” May said.

Michael just nodded. As much as he disagreed, he wanted to let May be. He just told her to go get something to eat. He was scheduled for a meeting soon.

 

Angry clouds gathered in the sky as the child frantically sprinted down the dirt road. Panting, he turned around and gasped in horror as another laser barely missed him. In the sky, a horde of Swarmers tore through the air with a storm of cannon fire and beating wings. He had just wanted to go grab some fruit from the nearby orchard for his mother, and a Mechanoid swarm had ambushed him. As he saw his village on the horizon, two Swarmers blocked his path.

The boy looked around to find that he had been completely surrounded by aggressive machines that wanted his head. White from fear, he brandished his sack of fruit. “S-stay back!”

The machines slowly advanced as if to savor his distress.

“I’m warning you!” The boy shouted, waving the sack around.

No response from the Swarmers as they aimed their tail cannons at him.

Finally pushed past his limit, the boy collapsed on the ground and screamed. “Help! Someone! Please!”

As if on cue, a shadow passed over them and two figures dropped to the ground.

The boy looked at them in surprise. There was a boy and a girl standing before him, dressed in light armor and brandishing two glowing swords. As the Swarmers fired, the boy blocked all their rounds with inhumanly fast reflexes while the girl raised her sword, sending a wave of golden arrows towards the machines. The arrows tore through the swarm like a whirlwind before seeking out and utterly demolishing the larger Mechanoid in the center of the group, causing them to simultaneously sputter out and die.

The boy looked on in awe as the two warriors turned towards him and asked: “Are you okay?”

He could just stare and nod. “Who are you? Are you angels, sent by the Gods?”

The girl laughed. “Nah. We’re just normal people doing what we think is right.” She handed the boy his fallen sack of fruit. “Go on home now. Stay safe, okay?”

The boy just nodded as he ran towards the distant village.

Ken sighed. “What in the name of the gods was a child doing out here?”

“Errands, probably. There’s a good orchard nearby.” Yuki said offhandedly, sheathing her blade.

Bud landed beside them and squawked concernedly.

“Nah, we’re fine. The kid’s safe, too.” Ken told him, causing him to purr happily. “Come on, we’ve gotta get going. The next village is incredibly far, and that place Magnus told us to look at is coming up.”

“Really now?” Yuki asked.

Suddenly, they felt a rumbling sound as an almighty voice tore through the air. “Hey!”

Both of them dropped to their knees and covered their ears as yet another face took over their view of the sky. This time, it was the final God: Michael, a man with short black hair and a goatee.

“Oh...um, greetings, sir.” Ken replied through his headset. “We weren’t expecting you.”

Michael laughed. “Expecting me? I was just checking in on you two specks.”

His voice was loud, commanding, and all-encompassing yet casual. And while Ken didn’t know what to feel of being called a speck, he decided to keep his mouth shut.

As far as planet-sized gods came, Michael was...problematic. He had an ego to match his size, and was generally very dismissive of the planet’s citizens. As much as Ken wanted to (preferably politely) ask him to be more considerate, he still held a great deal of respect for him and the gods. Not to mention, of course, that he was a God. There was no telling what he could do if sufficiently angered.

“Well, we appreciate your gesture, sir.” Yuki said, bowing respectfully.

Michael flashed a small grin. “Well, if you two are in the mood, feel free to ask me anything!”

“Can you maybe talk a tad bit quieter?” Yuki asked. “Maybe use the headset thing? No offense or anything, but your voice literally hurts us.”

Michael shrugged. “Why? I’m using that sound funneler, so nobody else can hear me.”

Yuki opened her mouth, then shut it. She remembered what Matheus had said. “ _It makes him feel all high and mighty.”_

“...Well, I’m curious about how you Gods named things in our world.” Ken asked.

“To be totally honest, Tobias mostly just punched some things into a translator.” Michael told them. “He really loves the Latin language in particular, not to mention that he’s a bit of what people up here would call a “weeaboo”, although I think that’s stretching it a bit. Those mages you met earlier picked up on it, since Magnum can mean “great” in Latin.” Then, to their surprise, he laughed. “I remember that worm you guys fought earlier. That got its name because Tobias saw May playing some video game one day, and she was getting killed over and over by some giant robot worm. So Tobias decided to make the worm a reality, deriving its name from the game.”

Yuki shivered. “Who would want to play a game where you die over and over again?”

“Well, you two might not understand, see.” Michael said. “We don’t really have to worry about things like premature death.”

“That must be great, sir.” Ken told him. “We had the misfortune of witnessing many deaths the other day, courtesy of the worm in question.”

“Oh, yeah! I was watching that. It was pretty entertaining.” Michael mentioned. When he saw the pair’s dumbfounded looks, he was confused. “What?”

“Well...entertaining isn’t the word I would have used.” Yuki said slowly.

“It was, though!” Michael insisted. “Watching you tiny ones down there, fighting that worm with all your might...you guys put on a real show!”

The Radiant Swords reacted exactly as they should, but not as he expected.

“...A lot of good people died there, sir.” Ken muttered gravely.

“Couldn’t you be a bit more respectful? Pretty please?” Yuki asked.

Michael seemed a bit confused. “What are you asking me to do? I don’t have to care too much about your tiny world down there. That is the right of a god, is it not?”

The two Nanos were getting more and more irate with each passing second. “Aren’t Gods supposed to care for their subjects?” Yuki asked.

Michael was becoming visually agitated. “That is up to me to decide.”

“And are you really a God, sir?” Ken asked. “Or are you a human, as the others say?”

To their surprise, Michael was stunned. “What...did you just say?”

“May said that all of you were humans.” Ken went on. “That it was your species or something. Matheus and Diana confirmed it.”

For a split second, Ken saw a glimmer of anger surface in Michael’s eyes. Then, it vanished, replaced by mild amusement. “Oh. Heh. May was right. We are humans, all right. That is our species. It is simply the type of creatures we are. However, our level of power and intelligence compared to you gives us the right of godhood in the eyes of beings such as yourselves. So in short, we are physically humans, but to you, we are Gods. Capiche?”

No response from the two.

Michael looked a bit awkward now. “If it makes you feel any better, I have some sympathy for you. The feeling when you try your best but it’s still not enough...I’ve been there, believe me.”

Yuki was curious now, having immediately forgiven him. “R-really?”

Michael smiled with genuine sadness and bitterness in his eyes. “Yeah. I feel that none of the other Gods take me seriously. Constantly insulting me, making me feel like that nothing I do is enough...it’s disheartening. I came here because Tobias invited me, but I sometimes feel that I regret my decision. But...I owe Tobias a great deal, and he’s one of the only ones who actually acknowledges my abilities.”

“Why would the gods make fun of you?” Ken asked, his sympathy already earned.

“Trust me - the world up here’s not as great as you think.” Michael muttered. “Sure, there’s nothing that compares to being a God, but it comes with...annoyances.”

As the Radiant Swords looked on, Michael raised his wrist to his face and seemed to examine a device before turning back to them. “My time here is up. I look forward to watching your little adventure…” he trailed off as he seemed to see something. “Oh, boy. This is going to get real interesting for you two specks soon.”

“What is it? What did you see?” Yuki yelled up at him.

But Michael was already gone.

 

“Whoa…” Ken breathed. “What happened to this place?”

The Radiant Swords had prepared themselves for the scene now in front of them, but what they had found still amazed them. Ken had never imagined destruction of this scale even being possible. The village of Olympus had essentially been erased off the face of the planet. The only evidence that people had once settled in the area was a couple weathered wooden planks lying around. The very earth within a radius of eighty kilometers was scorched and pockmarked with deep craters, and even the nearby mountains and cliffs looked like they had been completely leveled.

“So the Phenomena did this...those two must be like walking cataclysms.” Yuki muttered. “Magnus must have been very strong to get out of here alive.”

“Tell me about it.” Ken replied. He cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted. “Hello?”

No response.

“Ken, I hate to admit it, but I’m almost certain that there are no survivors left.” Yuki told him. “I hate to disappoint Magnus, but we should probably get a move on. It’s getting dark in a couple of hours.”

Ken sighed. “I guess you’re right. Anyone that didn’t escape like Magnus probably didn’t stand a chance in the crossfire of those two titans.”

He was cut off when a small rumbling shook the ground. “Wait, did you feel that?”

Yuki looked mildly concerned. “Yeah. What was that? Does Michael want to talk again?”

Ken shrugged, taking out his map. “Well, we’ve still got a long way to go. If we head east, there’s a small grove where we can camp out for the night. And…” he trailed off. “This map doesn’t show a mountain range here. Is this some mistake?”

He squinted into the distance, where there was indeed a white mountain range. “I’m on the verge of not trusting this map. Accuracy is important for travel.”

Yuki nodded, but something about that mountain range seemed off somehow. She examined it carefully, tracing its shape...then her eyes widened and she turned pale.

“Ken...I don’t think that’s a mountain range.”

Ken opened his mouth to answer, but was cut off by an enormous earthquake.

Both of them watched in surprise as the “mountain range” shook and slowly rose up, revealing itself to be a titanic, silver-white figure. They couldn’t see it that clearly though the clouds, but it was vaguely humanoid and huge enough to easily hold their home village in one of its hands. The setting sun glinted off of its silvery armor as its visor started glowing a brilliant blue.

“By the Gods…” Ken whispered, his face white.

“That...that’s got to be Unit Alpha!” Yuki yelped. “It’s still here?”

Bud squawked in alarm and began pacing frantically.

“Uh, Ken?” Yuki squeaked as the colossus turned towards them. “It noticed us!”

The titan took a step towards them, shaking the ground violently and covering almost half the distance with that one step.

“Stay calm.” Ken told her, although shaking in his boots himself. “There’s no outrunning it. Make no threatening moves, but prepare to defend yourself.”

Another step later, and the titan stood before them. The silvery machine was so tall that the cloud layer only made it to its ankles. It resembled an armored knight, and it had a build that would have been muscular if it was a person. A massive object that looked like a weapon was strapped to its back.

Looking up at the looming titan, Ken had never felt more insignificant, yet he was filled with defiance. He had one hand on his sword hilt, even though he knew that a sword like that would do nothing to a titan like Unit Alpha.

Yuki stood beside him, breathing heavily, sword ready to draw at a moment’s notice.

All of a sudden, Unit Alpha knelt down and tilted its head as if to examine the two, causing a rumbling that ruffled their hair.

After a moment of silence, Yuki plucked up the courage to talk to it. “Hello?” she yelled. “My name’s Yuki no Hikari, and this is my friend Ken Hoshizora.”

The white colossus was unmoving. Yuki gulped, and Ken put his hand on her shoulder to comfort her.

Then, Unit Alpha reached over to its head area before laying its hand in front of the two. Yuki yelped in alarm as the giant appendage dug itself into the ground no less than a couple meters away from them, one fingertip already enough to dwarf a house. As they looked at the titan’s hand in surprise, they saw a small humanoid figure standing on the tip of its index finger.

“What? There’s a person there!” Yuki exclaimed.

“Who...who are you?” Ken asked.

The figure stepped forward. It was a young girl who couldn’t have been older than 16, wearing a silver robe the same color of the machine she stood upon, contrasted by her dark brown boots. Her whitish-silver hair reached all the way to her waist, and her eyes were a startlingly bright shade of blue.

The girl bowed to the stunned duo. “My name is...Sophia. I...apologize for any distress I may have caused to you. Now, if you are willing to, I would like to...invite you aboard Unit Alpha - my friend and home.”

Both of their jaws dropped. This girl had just suddenly showed up and claimed to be a friend of the white titan? And then she just straight-up invited them onto the thing? This was easily the strangest thing they had seen in their journey.

Ken looked at Yuki, who shrugged. Well, if she was willing to invite them, there was no harm in entertaining her request, was there?

Ken and Yuki nodded as they jumped aboard the titan’s finger to join the mysterious girl.

 

Unit Alpha’s hand slowly ascended through the clouds and into the upper atmosphere. Yuki went pale as she realized how high up they were, and Ken noticed that the pressure was rapidly dropping, yet he only felt mild discomfort.

“I...apologize for the...brevity of my actions.” Sophia told them, bowing again. “I have a rather limited...understanding...of society. I have not quite met another living being in over...ten years now.”

“Ten years?” Yuki gasped. “How old are you?”

“I am...sixteen, I think?” Sophia mused. “I have been...living in solitude for almost my entire life. In my home atop the great titan. I understand that he may seem...intimidating, but he’s not so bad. He just...well, has a hard time interacting with people our size.”

“It’s a he?” Ken asked.

“Well, I just call it that...for convenience. Robots...lack gender.” Sophia told him.

Bud landed on the hand and squawked.

Sophia seemed a bit taken aback. “Wait...is that a Griff?”

“Yeah,” Yuki said. “How do you know that? We haven’t seen a single one who knew what species he was besides the one who gave him to us.”

“I am all too familiar with these creatures.” Sophia told them. “My father...raised them quite frequently.”

Ken was silent. Then, he asked her: “Was your father’s name Magnus?”

Sophia flinched. “How...how did you know that?”

Yuki walked up to her. “Your father gave us this Griff and told us to search that village for survivors. He thought you were dead! How are you...well, alive?”

Sophia opened her mouth, then closed it. “I will...see to that later.”

As Unit Alpha’s finger contacted its head, Sophia motioned for them to get off. “See that door? That leads to my home. Please...follow me.”

As the girl walked off the hand and into a small trapdoor, Ken looked at Yuki inquisitively. She just shrugged and followed.

 

Both Ken and Yuki’s jaws dropped as one when they climbed down the trapdoor.

Sophia smiled. “Welcome to my home!”

The space they had just entered was a massive complex made of furnished wood and metal. The room they stood in seemed to be some kind of kitchen, with a number of devices resembling ovens in the corner and piles of food in the other. To their left, an arched corridor led to a massive library with towering shelves filled with multicolored books. A fully furnished living quarters stood to their right, complete with a massive window that extended into the kitchen, overlooking the sunset from some fifty kilometers above the clouds. The remarkable thing was that the technology in Sophia’s home seemed incredibly advanced - on par with or surpassing that of the Mechanoids.

“Wow...you _live_ here?” Yuki marveled. “Inside Unit Alpha’s head?”

“Yeah! I’ve been living here for almost...my whole life. It wasn’t always like this, but now it’s my home.” Sophia told them. She motioned towards a large wooden table. “Please, uh, take a seat. I will go…” - she trailed off as she pulled a small booklet out of her pocket - “I will go and get some...refreshments.”

As Sophia left the room, Yuki nudged Ken. “Hey, Ken.”

“What is it?”

“Am I the only one who feels kind of creeped out?” she whispered. “How did Sophia get here, and why in the name of the Gods has she been living alone inside a Phenomenon for over ten years?”

“I have no idea, Yuki.” Ken sighed. “Don’t worry about it. She doesn’t seem to be dangerous, and I’m sure we can get some answers in a little bit.”

Sure enough, Sophia came back a minute later carrying a plate of what appeared to be biscuits and several mugs of some brownish liquid. Setting the plate on the table, she motioned to the two. “Go ahead and...take what you want. I think this...is how you’re supposed to treat guests...”

“Thank you.” Ken told her as he bit into a biscuit. “These are quite good.”

Sophia bowed. “Thanks...a lot. Until now, I have had nobody but...myself to taste them.”

“This drink is interesting.” Yuki mused. “It’s like the tea we have at our place, but way more bitter. It’s pretty good, though.”

“That is a type of “coffee”, if I recall.” Sophia told her. “However, be careful...not to drink too fast. It is served extremely hot…”

Too late. Yuki shrieked as she accidentally burned her tongue on the drink.

Ken couldn’t help but laugh. “Are you good?”

“Miss Yuki! Are you hurt?” Sophia asked quizzically.

Yuki could just nod with her hand over her mouth.

“Don’t worry!” Sophia told them as her eyes began to glow blue. In an instant, Yuki felt the pain wracking her tongue vanish. Her eyes widened. “Did you just...”

“Magic, of course!” Sophia said. “I have had all the time in the world to practice it in solitude. Thanks to my...bloodline, my magic is...quite strong. However, I mostly use it for...utility purposes. For example, healing. Or construction.”

Ken looked at the girl curiously. “That brings up another question - I believe that you haven’t given us some basic information yet. Who exactly are you, why are you here, and what do you have to do with Alpha?”

Sophia’s warm smile dissolved into a slight frown. “Well, I believe that...my father has told you what...happened to our village. I can’t guarantee that I remember all of my past. But, I recall...that I was part of a small, happy family. My mother was also a powerful Magnum. This, combined with my father’s power made me a child with...incredible potential. I remember that I had...dedicated much of my spare time to the pursuit of knowledge. In fact, my parents named me so...because my name _is_ the Latin word for knowledge.”

Ken and Yuki nodded. They could relate to that. When they were younger, they would always run around town, looking at everything the world had to offer in the hope that the world could give them more answers in return.

“Yet that peace could not last forever.” Sophia muttered bitterly. “When the titans fought, destruction fell upon us like the rain itself. My parents had brought me along with them...to evacuate, but a fiery blast knocked us apart. The next thing I knew, one of the titans had...deflected a shot and inadvertently...aimed it at us. My mother had used all her power to shield me. S-she protected me from the blast while...she herself was reduced to nothing by the attack.”

Ken shook his head slowly, and Yuki hung her head in sympathy.

“At the end of the battle, I was left alone. Somehow alive in the middle of a...scorched cataclysm. The black titan had been driven off. But by some stroke of luck, the white titan noticed my suffering. To my surprise, Unit Alpha attempted to comfort me...in any way it could. Clearing away debris. Watching over me. Crushing any Mechanoids that attempted...to take my life. Of course, our size difference meant that...there were limitations to the titan’s care. But, I was surprised that the destroyer of my town would have...such compassion...to begin with.”

The Radiant Swords imagined the scene: a crying little girl in a burning hellscape of crushed houses and bodies, with a towering machine looming over her. Sophia had to have barely been a toddler at that point. Being able to deal with a situation like that at that age…perhaps Sophia was stronger than they thought.

“Eventually, Alpha seemed...to realize that Omega might come back.” Sophia continued. “It picked me up and allowed me to live on its body. A single groove in its armor was enough for me...to comfortably stay in. But…”

“But what?” Yuki asked.

“I had just gone to bed. But the next time I woke up, I was...in a completely different world. The ground was made of hard metal. Lights brighter than the sun shone down on me mercilessly. I was tired, scared, and had no idea what was happening. Looming over me were beings of indescribable size, wielding gigantic tools.”

Ken gasped. “Were those the Gods?”

Sophia nodded. “Yep. They were doing...something to Alpha. The machine had somehow been deactivated and the Gods seemed to be...disassembling it. I watched on in awe. Before, the white titan had towered over anything I had known. But even Alpha was merely a speck compared to the magnificence and size of the Gods.”

“Wow.” Ken and Yuki breathed in unison.

“It was too much for me, apparently, and I passed out.” Sophia went on. “When I woke up again, I was back in this world. I found a door...in Alpha’s head which led to a vast room, filled with more books than I could ever imagine. As I looked through them, I realized that they contained...immeasurable amounts of knowledge. Knowledge that not even the wisest sages of this world could hope to attain. These books held knowledge of not only this world, but the world of the Gods as well. So, up until now I have been reading...my books in solitude. Gaining more and more knowledge...about everything possible. I desired to learn everything the Gods had given me. On that day, my name had taken on a brand new meaning!”

Ken and Yuki were in awe. Staying in her home and reading endless books given to her by the Gods themselves, Sophia must have attained an enormous amount of knowledge. Yet Ken couldn’t help but think: _She had all the knowledge she could want, yet lacked any proper upbringing to hone it nor anyone to apply it to. That trade-off doesn’t seem too good, at least to me._

Meanwhile, Yuki was thinking about a similar thing. _So that's what's with her...peculiar speaking pattern. I was too afraid to ask her, but it all makes sense now._ _She's had all of the vocabulary needed for communication, but pretty much no practice using it. Considering her situation, she's doing a pretty good job already._

“Wait...if you know so much, then how come you’ve never seemed to share it?” Yuki asked through a mouthful of biscuit.

Sophia shook her head. “When I...discovered this place, it had a shrine in it.” She pointed at a large, porous black sphere in another room, which Ken and Yuki now knew as a larger version of their headsets. “The shrine had a headset much like the ones you are wearing now. The Gods told me that they had given Alpha the ability to understand my speech. They said that the headset would...let my voice reach the great titan. However, they also told me that I was forbidden to leave my home.”

“What? Why is that?” Ken asked.

“I don’t know, to be honest.” Sophia told them. “They told me that I was supposed to be like...a keeper of knowledge. One who would only be able to share my knowledge with the...ones who sought it out. I didn’t get it at the time, and I still don’t. But like I was going to question a direct order from the Gods. So I lived all by myself, with nobody but Alpha for company. Reading books. Furnishing my home using the technology gifted to me. Wandering the planet while using the titan’s power to help others.”

Yuki swallowed the biscuit. “Wait a sec...you said you could communicate with Alpha. Does that mean that everything Alpha’s done…”

“Yep, that was me.” Sophia said proudly. “Alpha is helpful by nature, and even though I could not leave to see the people of this world, I...tried to help them in any way possible, as the titan had done for me. Usually though, I just...help destroy invading Mechanoids.”

“That’s so nice of you!” Yuki exclaimed.

“Were you lonely, though?” Ken asked.

“For sure.” Sophia said sadly. “Yet eventually...I forgot what it was like to have company. You can’t miss what you...can’t remember. Yet I was always eager to greet anyone I found. Unfortunately anyone I tried to invite aboard rejected my invitations due to Alpha’s...intimidating stature.”

“It must have been awful.” Yuki told her.

“Like I said. You can’t yearn for something you’ve forgotten.” Sophia said. “But you have no idea how happy I am, now that I’ve finally found people to talk to.”

“Sorry to burst your bubble, Sophia, but we’re kind of on an impossible quest to get to Electi Terram and fight some guardian.” Yuki told her. “So I doubt that we will be able to stay for long.”

“The...Chosen Land. Am I right?” Sophia asked.

“Yeah...wait, how do you know what that meant?” Yuki asked.

Sophia simply nodded. “That name is in Latin. I know many languages. From my books. And I am aware of your quest.” Sophia told them. “The Gods gave me a number of books documenting...their experience with this planet so far. The quest was listed as one of them.”

Ken was suddenly interested. “Did it say anything about why it exists?”

“Unfortunately, no. It just says it exists, and some details about it.” Sophia told them. “It said that the Gods have been researching the planet...for almost 200 years now. I think that the quest might have something to do...with that research. I have heard that it is very hard. Nobody has ever returned from it.” Then, she smiled. “Which is why I am willing to help. I can have Alpha carry you to your destination! How does that sound?”

“Wait, really?” Yuki exclaimed. “That would be awesome!”

“That would save us an incredible amount of time!” Ken exclaimed.

Sophia laughed. “Oh, this is great! So I guess it’s settled then.” She tapped her earpiece. “Alpha, set a course to Electi Terram. You two, make yourselves at home. I will make this trip an enjoyable one, I promise! I...wish to know what company is like.”

 

Alice sat in her living quarters, typing messages into a chatroom. She made it a point to keep in touch with her friends back at university, since being in space was a bit lonely - despite the support of her colleagues and even the Nanos. All of her friends thought that being an alien researcher was the coolest thing, but it really brought her a fair amount of guilt as well as satisfaction.

Noticing a message from May addressed to her pop up in the chat, Alice sighed. “May...you’re sitting right next to me. Why would you need to type?”

“Sorry, I just felt like it.” May admitted. Apparently her room’s power had cut out, and she was now freeloading off of Alice’s electricity to play video games instead of helping Michael fix her power. As that giant dragon ripped her character’s face off for the thirtieth time this week, May just sighed and restarted while Alice looked at her, thoroughly perplexed.

“Why do you keep playing that?” Alice asked. “You just keep dying over and over again.”

May just grinned. “Eventually, I’m going to beat it. And when I do, it’s going to feel amazing. The harder it is, the better it feels to overcome it.”

Alice just shrugged and kept typing.

The room fell into silence for about five minutes before Alice spoke again.

“Hey, May?”

“Hm?”

“Why did you want to come research the Nanos?”

May laughed. “That’s easy. It just sounded cool. Plus, I really wanted to become friends with aliens! The Nanos are really nice and friendly!”

Alice sighed. “I wish it was that simple. You do realize that your friends are still our research subjects, right? There’s no telling what could happen to them.”

“I don’t care.” May said. “I can still be friends with them, right?”

The older girl just shrugged. “Well, I came here because a teacher at my university told me about an opportunity aboard this station. I thought it would be a great learning experience, but it turned out to be so much more. It’s kind of hard for me, really. On one hand, I really want to see the Nanos flourish and live their lives in peace. On the other hand...I have a job as a researcher.”

May shrugged. “So? You can still be nice to them, even if you’re a researcher.”

“I guess, but the respect they give me still kind of makes me uneasy.” Alice told her. “If they knew what I was taking part of, I bet they wouldn’t call me a Goddess as wholeheartedly as they do now. I know you’re like me in the sense that you don’t really like being deified like that...unlike a certain someone I know…”

“Hey, are you talking about Michael? He’s not so bad!” May protested. “Otherwise, he wouldn’t be helping me fix my electricity!”

“He’s a good researcher, but I just don’t get why he has such a drive to be a God.” Alice muttered. “Tobias told me that it had something to do with his personal history, but he didn’t give out any more details...which I can respect. Even if Michael does have some kind of reason for this, I don’t know if putting such a guy in charge of a whole planet is such a good idea. Especially with what his family has done to the Nanos in the past.”

May just shrugged again as the dragon finally perished in a blaze of light. “Got him.”

“Was it worth the pain?”

“...Probably not.”

 

_A few hours later…_

Unit Alpha slowly walked towards their destination, weaving in between villages at Sophia’s direction. Although aided by godly technology, the titan could not walk too fast as to not cause any serious tremors. Yet a machine of that size could still cover incredible distance at that speed, and they were almost three-quarters of the way there - even though Alpha had stopped to help crush a Mechanoid invasion.

During that time, though, the three inhabitants of the white titan were enjoying themselves. They had chatted, played, and read about the countless topics Sophia’s library had to offer. The Radiant Swords had already picked up on an incredible amount of information - and supplies - that could possibly help them on their quest. In exchange, they were teaching Sophia things that not even her encyclopedic knowledge could give her - things like how to have a real conversation, or what it was like to have friends.

Ken and Yuki walked into the library and collapsed on the nearest couch. They had just had a duel on Alpha’s head, and they could not have been more tired. Not only had the wind thrown them off a number of times, the lower air pressure some fifty kilometers up had made it somewhat hard to breathe. Yet Yuki was smiling brighter than she had ever smiled before; for at long last, she had bested Ken in a duel.

“So, if I continue searching, then I can maybe find it…” Sophia muttered, her face in a thick book. “That would be great.”

Yuki was about to ask who she was talking to, then shut her mouth when she realized that might be a tad bit rude. If she had to live alone for ten years, she might have talked to herself as well. “Hey, Sophia!”

“Oh, hi!” Sophia said, noticing them. “Did you have fun?”

“Yeah! I beat Ken in a duel! For the first time!” Yuki yelled.

“Your magic really is something, Yuki.” Ken told her. For once he had no witty comments for her, only praise.

“I presume my father...told you about your magic? And the keys to its success?” Sophia asked, which was answered by two nods. “Well anyways, I recently learned - using you two as a reference - that each person has a different symbol that will sometimes appear when you use your magic. Ken’s is an octagram. Yuki’s is a hexagram. If I recall, my father’s was a pentagram.”

“That’s true,” Ken said, exerting some magic and indeed seeing a blue octagram materialize around his wrist. “I’ve also noticed that the less points the shape has, the more powerful the user’s magic is. Magnus was crazy powerful, so he had a 4-pointed star. Yuki’s magic is stronger than mine, so she has a 6-pointed star while I have an 8-pointed one.”

Sophia’s eyes glowed blue, and a simple, pale blue pulsating ring appeared around her wrist. “Meanwhile, mine...is a circle?”

“Hey, Ken?” Yuki asked. “How many points does a circle have?”

Ken was dumbfounded. “No idea.”

Yuki looked at it. “Uhh...Ken, does a circle have one side or infinite sides?”

Ken was still dumbfounded. “Again, no idea.”

Sophia looked crestfallen.

“Don’t worry about it! I think the shape is just decorative anyways.” Yuki reassured her.

Ken, meanwhile, was already reimmersed in the book he had been reading for at least half an hour now.

Yuki nudged him. “You’re still reading that guidebook?”

“I told you already...this book has information on all the different types of Mechanoids, along with their weaknesses! This is incredible!”

“Oh, I finished that one already.” Sophia told them. “With some of the...mechanical horrors the Gods came up with, pray that you never have to see anything past...page 87.”

“Hey, I’m only on page 76. I’m not that fast of a reader.”

Yuki suddenly had a thought. “Hey, Sophia, do you know why the Mechanoids even exist? If anyone knows that, you do.”

The older girl thought. “Hmm. I believe that I read about that somewhere. Apparently the Gods sent them down here as a test of our power. Kind of a...“make or break” thing if you know what I’m saying. But the Mechanoids were also...intended to give us things in return. Such as metal. And, if the books are right, a common cause.”

“That’s...interesting.” Yuki mused. “I’ll think about that for a moment.”

Sophia looked at them. “You two must be hungry. If you want, I can go get some...food from the farm. Maybe I’ll cook something.”

“There’s a farm here?” Yuki asked incredulously.

“Yep! I used my magic...and the technological expertise the Gods gave me...to construct an automatic farm. Using metal I found and plants I harvested from the wild. Technology can do...so many things. It’s no wonder the Gods could build almost anything.”

“I wish we had technology like that.” Ken muttered wistfully. “Hey, speaking of which, do you have any books on the Gods themselves?”

“As a matter of fact, I do.” Sophia told him. “Their species is...a curious one. Their biology is very similar to ours. However, it seems to be a lot...weaker, somehow. They cannot use magic, have less proportionate strength, and cannot recover from wounds as fast. In addition, their immense stature makes their bodies...vulnerable to intrusion by organisms of our size...or even larger. In a way, excepting our size, our bodies are far stronger than theirs.”

Ken thought about that for a minute. “That’s...interesting.”

Yuki sidled over to Sophia. “What are you reading?”

“This here is a manual of sorts to Unit Alpha.” Sophia said. “To this day I have been unable to...fully understand it. I have only recently learned about their cloaking feature.”

“What?” Ken sputtered. “They can do that?”

“Apparently so.” Sophia told them. “What I’m interested in...is something I noticed in the book. Throughout the text, there is a particular page stating that it may actually be possible...to manually control Alpha.”

“What?” Yuki asked incredulously. “How is that possible?”

“Apparently there is some...cockpit within Alpha’s head. I have been unable to locate it so far, but that is...my goal. Being able to control the titan...may help during battles with Omega, where its...computerized brain may not be the most reliable”

Yuki paled a bit. “Oh, yeah...I forgot you had to sit through every single time the Phenomena fought each other. That must have been really scary.”

“The first few times, I was terrified. Afterwards, it just became a matter of hoping...that nothing in my house was damaged too much. Fortunately, the Gods seemed to have fortified this place, since it’s never been destroyed before. It probably has some kind of...gyroscope system installed.”

“Gyroscope?” Ken asked.

“Never mind.” Sophia said quickly. “Anyways, I thought that if I could control Alpha, I could...defeat Omega once and for all. Then, I could stop it from destroying all those innocent villages...like it did to mine.”

Yuki was looking out the window. “The land above the clouds is really beautiful.”

“Tell me about it.” Sophia said wistfully. “It gives me solace. When I’m feeling sad.”

Yuki nodded. “If this map is right, then we’re almost at our destination. If Alpha keeps up this pace while still avoiding all those small villages in the way, we’ll get there within about an hour. Then we can...hold up a second.”

The girl gasped in shock as she saw a rainbow trailing behind a shimmering object in the sky. “Ken, we need to go up top!”

Ken immediately jumped into action, and Sophia telekinetically put back all the books before following suit. Yuki ran with joy, Ken with urgency that something had happened. What they both had in common was that they ran so quickly that the sudden wind took them by surprise, almost causing the Radiant Swords to get blown off the titan.

“Hey!” Sophia yelled, raising her voice for the first time in years as she used her magic to hold the two of them in place. “Please do not fall off the robot. You would likely die. That would be quite sad.”

“Sorry.” Ken muttered, still somewhat pale.

But Yuki, completely unaffected by what had just transpired, pointed at the shape excitedly. Upon closer observation, it appeared to be a giant bird with the most magnificent rainbow-colored plumage they had ever seen. The sun glinted off its feathers, causing it to radiate iridescent light in all directions.

“Is that what I think it is?” Ken whispered in awe.

Yuki was giddy with excitement. “The Prismatic Phoenix! I’ve always wanted to meet it!” She turned towards Sophia. “Hey, would you happen to have some kind of projectile weapon I could borrow for about a minute?”

Sophia tilted her head quizzically. “Why would you need one? I do have a homemade rocket launcher in my closet, if you’re interested.”

Ken groaned. “Please don’t tell me you’re actually trying to shoot it and cook it.”

“Of course I am!” was the cheerful response. “What’s a rocket launcher?”

“A cool weapon that makes things explode violently.” Sophia told her in a proud tone, as if she felt privileged to have something like that. “Well, if you want to eat it, it might not be the best choice. I think I may have another...projectile weapon or two somewhere. If you really want, I can use that experimental weapon I’ve been working on.”

Ken put his head in his hands. “Sophia, don’t encourage her.”

Yuki, in her excitement, had already become distracted by the sight of a village at Alpha’s feet. “Look, there’s a village! It looks so tiny from up here! Hi there, villagers!”

No response from the village, which was to be expected since Yuki had yelled from fifty kilometers above the ground.

Then she seemed to remember that she had a target as her navy eyes glowed. She pointed her sword at the Phoenix, willing it to glow bright blue. “I’m going to shoot it out of the sky. Then, I’ll use magic to bring it to us. If I preserve the core well, I can cook its body and release the bird at the same time! I can already imagine what it’s going to taste like!”

“Whatever you say, Yuki.” Ken sighed, smiling wryly.

“Good luck!” Sophia said encouragingly.

Yuki swung her blade, unleashing a storm of magic missiles which curved and arced towards the rainbow-colored avian. The bird let out a resounding, multi-toned screech as it swerved and looped with incredible speed, nimbly avoiding the missiles. As the magic blasts curved back and homed in on the Phoenix, it tried to shake them off, to no avail.

As Yuki watched on in anticipation, her smile turned into a frown when the missiles seemed to impact an invisible wall and explode in midair. “What? What was that?”

The Prismatic Phoenix let out a cry and flew out of there as the air in front of the heroes began to shimmer. Yuki gasped and fell backwards as a titanic shape materialized in front of them. One look at the thing’s colossal frame, its jet-black armor and its crimson visor was all Yuki needed to determine that they were in immense danger.

“Holy...is that Unit Omega?” Ken yelled as the opposing machine let out a terrible roar.

Sophia was pale. “Oh, no.” Then she glanced down at the village below them and gasped. “No. I can’t allow that to happen again!”

She tapped her headset. “Alpha! Get Omega out of range of that village!” Turning to the Radiant Swords, she continued. “You two! Get down to the library right now!”

Ken and Yuki rushed back down without a single argument for once. Even they understood that there was no point in fighting a machine as big as Omega.

Sophia braced herself as Alpha tackled its dark counterpart, sending it crashing to the ground with a massive tremor. The white titan then punched Omega in its visor, sending it skidding backwards again. Looking over at the village, Sophia breathed a sigh of relief as she realized that Omega had been pushed back a safe distance. As she turned around to retreat back into her home, Omega got up and landed a overhead strike on Alpha. Sophia yelped in surprise as Omega’s gigantic fist slammed into the metal plating just a dozen meters away from her, sending her flying almost a kilometer into the air. As Sophia landed hard next to the trapdoor, she cried out as she felt her left arm splinter like a toothpick from the force. Groaning, she rolled into the door as the battle raged on.

“Sophia! Are you okay?” Ken asked concernedly.

The girl got up unsteadily, clutching her arm. “I am fine. I neglected to try and soften my landing with magic. That was a mistake. Do not worry. I can heal myself.”

Both of them could easily tell that Sophia was far more injured than she claimed, but they decided not to push it.

The room shook again as Omega landed another punch. The three of them ran to the window, where they saw Alpha’s arm reach behind them and draw an enormous metal sword at least forty kilometers long. Despite its apparent weight, the titan grasped it in one hand and held it in a guarding position. Farther away, Omega raised its arms and its palms glowed yellow as they fired out enormous beams. Alpha blocked them with its sword, but each beam caused an explosion large enough to dwarf the village behind them. When the smoke cleared, Omega had drawn its own sword and lurched forward, digging its blade into somewhere above the heroes and causing another quake.

“This is incredibly unsafe.” Sophia muttered. “I will have to insist you two leave now.”

“But what about you?” Yuki asked concernedly.

“Do not worry about me. What is most important is that you get out of here. You two have a quest to complete. I do not.”

“You expect us to just leave you?” Ken asked, slightly angry at the request.

“Listen to me. The longer...you stay here, the lower your chances are of getting out alive. You must leave now, before Omega...incurs too much damage.” Sophia told them urgently amidst another quake. “I will remain and hope that...I can prove my suspicion about Alpha.”

Ken looked like he wanted to stay something, but Yuki put a hand on his shoulder. “Ken, she’s right. Staying here won’t help her in any way, and if we don’t leave now we may never leave at all.”

Ken begrudgingly relented.

A minute later, the Radiant Swords had gotten Bud out of the room they were keeping him in and had saddled up on Alpha’s head. A beam whizzed over their heads and they felt a breeze ruffle their hair as Alpha’s giant sword swung over them, only to be blocked by Omega’s identical blade.

“Ken? Yuki?”

The Radiant Swords turned around to see Sophia waving at them.

“Both of you...good luck on your quest. And...thank you for being “friends” to me.”

The two of them just waved as they took off.

Sophia smiled and left to go back inside. She had a control room to find.

 

“Left!”

Bud screeched as he swerved to the side, narrowly avoiding a massive laser.

Ken grit his teeth as Yuki tried not to throw up. Trying to navigate a bird through a slugfest between two titanic robots without getting squashed, vaporized, blown up, or otherwise killed was proving to be difficult, and the constant deafening explosions didn’t help either. Both the machines had taken a significant amount of damage from the other, but neither of them looked like they were faltering.

Bud dove straight down as Alpha’s fist came hurtling over their heads, scoring a solid hit on the black titan’s jaw. As Omega staggered backwards from the attack, its head tilted towards the tiny flying object in front of it.

“Uh...Ken? I think Omega sees us!” Yuki shrieked.

The machine let out a mechanical, deafening roar before extending a hand to grab them, only to be interrupted by Alpha firing an energy burst into its hand, causing a massive explosion that sent them hurtling even faster downwards. As both of them screamed hysterically, Bud let out a high-pitched squeal as he leveled out and achieved a controllable speed. As Ken looked up to see Omega raising its sword, his blood froze. It didn’t matter how sharp that blade was, getting hit by something of that size was guaranteed to reduce both of them to paste instantly.

As Omega swung the sword at them, a massive white hand came out of nowhere and took the hit for them, the gigantic blade tearing into its fingers. Ken looked back to see that Alpha had begun advancing and was trying to shield them. Although he wasn’t sure of it, he was wondering if that had been Sophia’s work and not Alpha’s.

The duo soared past Omega’s leg, the titan distracted by an energy blast to the face courtesy of Alpha. As they flew, all the pair could do is pray and hope that Omega would forget about them. Hope that they could live to see the night sky again. Hope for the safety of Sophia, their newest friend.

 

Michael sat in his room, deep in thought.

 _“Aren’t Gods supposed to care for their subjects?”_ Yuki had asked.

Those two had some nerve to ask that of him...but at the same time, Michael kind of admired their confidence. And the way those two forgave him so quickly...well, Michael thought that they were the kind of people he could talk with.

Yet he had a nagging feeling in his chest. He was a God! Why would he need to talk with such lowly beings as the Nanos?

With a sense of longing, Michael recalled the events that led up to his arrival on this station. Stumbling aimlessly through life, exploited by all of those he called friends because of his meek nature...Michael had been quite the sad human being when Tobias had found him. The man wanted Michael to be a researcher - partially to continue his family’s legacy as Territe researchers, and partially to give him a purpose in life. Michael took the offer gratefully, especially since Tobias had been one of the few people to show him some form of respect in his life.

Yet even here, free of his former troubles, Michael still felt like he was being confined. He had ascended from being an unlucky man pushed around by everyone to a God, revered and feared by an _entire species_. Yet his colleagues still berated him for holding that status in such high regard. What was the problem with wanting to be a God? It was a rare opportunity that few would ever get, so it was only natural of him to feel that way. He was finally in control of his life, not to mention an entire species...but why did everyone still treat him the way they did? Perhaps it was really his grandfather’s fault?

Michael shook that off. His grandfather was a great person who lucked out and attained godhood, and it was only natural of him to make the most of his new status. He deserved none of the blame that the others put on him. The Nanos were little more than bacteria! Why did the others have to hold them in such high regard?

He sighed. Perhaps this had been a mistake...but he owed Tobias everything. For giving him the respect he desired, Michael had a duty to continue doing his job. So continue he would...but he still endorsed the right to rule over Territe and the Nanos that lived on it. That was something he would never give up, for fear that he would never get to experience any feelings of control ever again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Making Sophia talk in a "knows vocab/grammar but doesn't know how to speak to others" way was actually kind of difficult for me. I ended up just making her lapse into occasional terse talking.
> 
> Bonus points for guessing what the game that May was playing (which inspired Tobias to make the Devourer) was. I think that mod actually shaved several years off my life span...
> 
> Edit: Decided to just start further fragmenting Sophia's speech in this story, just because I really feel like it.


	7. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If my memory is still semi-functional, this is the longest chapter I wrote for this story. If you want to read it, go ahead - but don't say I didn't give you a heads-up.
> 
> This chapter was extra notable for me since I listened to a copious amount of _A Song For Bygone Days_ from Fire Emblem 15 while writing this. It was a great song.

Tobias entered the meeting room, and everyone stood at attention. Nobody besides him knew the reason that they had been summoned.

“Take a seat.” Tobias told them.

Everyone sat.

“I am here to discuss an important matter with you.” Tobias began. “As the head scientist, it is my duty to inform you of any major decisions I may make.”

“So what is it?” Michael asked. “Go on, out with it.”

Tobias sighed. “I have been thinking about this long and hard. Yet, it has occured to me that the Nanosapients have long since achieved a level of humanity that rivals our own. If I am being honest, I would say their humanity surpasses ours. Why we have done nothing to respond to that realization is beyond me. Perhaps it was fear of breaking traditions - by that, I mean the centuries of callousness we have showed towards the species. Perhaps it was simply my own fear that the countless years of pain from both us and the Nanos would be wasted should we take action.”

An unsettling silence permeated the room. “Tobias,” Matheus began, “What exactly are you saying here?”

“I am saying that I have had enough. I had already believed that the Nanos were superior to humans in nearly every aspect save the obvious,” - he looked directly at Michael - “But Ken and Yuki were the last straw. Those two displayed more humanity than almost all the others sent on the quest; and, with no offense intended, certainly more than any of us in this room.”

Amidst stunned looks, Tobias made his statement. “So what I am proposing is this. We no longer have whatever right we used to have to take advantage of a species like the Nanos just because of their size. I am willing to abandon our research for their sake, so I am proposing that we abandon the project. Release the planet back into space. We have put the Nanos through so much, I am sure that they deserve to be free of our influence.”

Stunned silence followed.

Diana was the first to speak. “That...that is an ambitious idea, sir. Are you sure the Nanos will be able to survive without are help?”

“Certainly.” Alice said. “Like Tobias said, they are better than us in nearly every way. Stronger, smarter, kinder, more resourceful...all they needed was a little push from us to get their momentum going. If we leave them the information that we left them - maybe free that poor librarian from her prison - they will most definitely move on.”

Tobias looked around. “I will hold a vote. All in favor of freeing the Nanos.”

Himself, along with Diana and Alice, raised their hands.

“The Nanos deserve this. They are just like us, and they certainly deserve free will without our influence stunting their potential.” Alice said firmly.

“If you are certain they can move on without us, then I am in favor. I can see that this is easily the best thing we can do for them as of now.” Diana agreed.

Tobias looked at the three who had abstained. “And how about you three?”

“I understand where you are coming from, but I simply cannot give up this research.” Matheus told them calmly. “We still have so much to learn, such as about how such tiny yet complex creatures can exist, or how this planet came to be, or how their so-called magic works. Until we know all of this species’ secrets, I’m afraid that I personally cannot stand for releasing the planet - despite the consequences.”

“Um...I just really wanted to make more friends on the planet…” May mumbled shyly. “I...well, I don’t want to have to say goodbye yet…”

“This is absurd. Finding this planet was an incredible stroke of luck.” Michael said, sounding mildly upset. “Through providence, we gained the right to become Gods, deciding the fates of an entire species! That’s a right that no human has had, and few will ever be able to have. We have gained something immeasurably valuable. Why would we ever give it up?”

Michael seemed to realize he had spoken his mind a bit too loudly, and now everyone was giving him weird looks.

“Michael…” Alice and May whispered simultaneously.

“Michael, this isn’t the first time we’ve heard you go on about your delusions of grandeur.” Diana angrily snapped. “But I just don’t see how you can’t put your dreams of godhood aside for one damn second to consider what is good for the planet. This is about the Nanos, not you! If you are unable to simply consider the lives of these creatures...no, _people,_ simply because you view them as weaker than you, then some of your grandfather’s megalomania must have rubbed off onto you.”

“Diana.” Tobias interrupted. “That’s enough.”

Michael stood up, his eyes alight with burning anger.

Diana didn’t back down. “...How do you feel right now? Annoyed, angry, upset...yet you feel like you can do nothing about it? _That’s how the Nanos feel every single time you walk into that room, Michael.”_

Tobias slammed the table in a rare display of anger. “Both of you... _sit down._ ”

Diana took a seat, glaring at Michael. Michael was completely silent, boiling with barely-suppressed rage, but sat as well.

Tobias sighed. “This meeting was inconclusive. I will have to reevaluate this situation at a later time. Dismissed.”

As Michael walked past him, Tobias stopped him. “Michael, I know that what Diana said was too much. But she is right, in a way. You have a lot of potential, Michael. But if you prove you cannot keep your desire for power from interfering with what is best for us and the planet, then I will be forced to say that recruiting you was a mistake.”

Michael was stunned, and his face showed genuine hurt for a second before transforming into a stony mask. “Understood, sir.”

“Now get some rest. We will make the decision later.” Tobias told him as Michael stiffly walked off. The older man sighed, feeling his forehead. Apparently the asteroid sample he had inspected yesterday really had infected him with some allergic condition. He would have to rest...yet, he felt like he owed the Radiant Swords something.

 

Sophia panted heavily, frantically jumping from foothold to foothold while trying not to get thrown into the abyss below by the constant shaking of her environment. She had just managed to pinpoint the location of Unit Alpha’s control pod, and she was now determined to make her suspicion into a reality.

Another quake shook the interior of Alpha’s head, causing Sophia to almost lose her balance. Grabbing onto a nearby ladder rung for support, she winced. Her high-level magic had managed to heal her arm up quite a bit, but she could feel that her bone was still fractured in several places. Yet if she lost her grip now, she would fall into the cavernous expanse of Alpha’s head and body to her messy death countless kilometers below. She didn’t really want that to happen.

Sophia jumped down to another platform. The fact that there were so many platforms to begin with was a surefire hint that the Gods had intended for someone to find the control pod. _I’m having no such luck so far...but wait, what’s that glowing thing down there?_

Sophia gasped as she glimpsed a small white door with a glowing orange lightbulb right above it. If she strained her eyes enough, she could make out a single phrase printed on the door in bright red letters: MANUAL CONTROL.

She laughed giddily and made a reckless jump towards the platform in front of her goal. Somehow landing safely, she tugged the handle, only to find that it was locked. Not willing to let a simple lock undermine her progress, Sophia’s eyes blazed a brilliant blue as she raised a hand, using magic to tear the heavy door right off its hinges.

She rushed into the room, which was empty save for a single apparatus large enough to perfectly house a person. Completely disregarding any sense of caution, she immediately took a seat. Instantly, the machine lit up with glowing symbols and interfaces, and a massive screen projected a view of the setting sun from Unit Alpha’s point of view. A number of hovering, mechanical devices emerged from the apparatus and rose to Sophia’s arm level as if beckoning her to take control.

Sophia laughed out loud as she grasped the levers, only to notice a large red button which read “ASSUME DIRECT CONTROL?”

The girl sighed. Activating her headset, she spoke. “Sorry, Alpha.”

Then she hit the button.

Immediately, she felt the titan stop moving, and the levers surrounding her started to glow blue. She pulled the one on the left, and in the projection of the outside world Alpha’s left arm rose as well. Then she firmly grasped the one on the right and drove it forward, causing Alpha’s right fist to plow straight into Omega’s head. The titan fell over with an enormous crash, clearing all the clouds away.

Sophia wasn’t done, though. As she moved in for another attack, Omega lifted its arms and fired a massive laser at her. She could only raise Alpha’s arms to block the attack, which tore a large chunk of armor off of the white titan’s right arm.

Realization crept up on her. Sophia could now control Alpha, but she still had no idea how to fight with it. As she tried to maneuver the machine’s arms to draw its sword, Omega rose and drew its own effortlessly. The black machine roared as it drove the sword into Alpha’s shoulder, causing a huge explosion that rocked the machine. Sophia immediately punched Omega in the face, but she was still fumbling with the sword.

A sudden tense of Sophia’s right hand, and a beam shot out of Alpha’s palm, flying somewhere into the outer atmosphere. Omega noticed this and backed up in surprise, only to raise both arms and retaliate with a massive fusillade of laser bursts. As Alpha was enveloped in explosions, Sophia grasped the levers and tried tensing her hands again. Nothing happened.

“Oh, come on!” she yelled.

Alpha kept up the bombardment, shearing off more and more armor with each attack. Sophia finally managed to grasp Alpha’s sword, but by then it was too late. Omega grabbed its own blade, lowered its point, and charged, driving the tip straight through Alpha’s torso.

Sophia gasped as the room shook violently and the lights on her display started going out. Omega then reared back and delivered a massive punch to Alpha’s visor, shattering it. The machine fell over with a great crash, and Sophia found herself being tossed around like a sack of grain. She grit her teeth as her body was mercilessly slammed into numerous hard metal surfaces, and cringed whenever she heard the tell-tale, sickening cracks of her bones being shattered. When the quake ended, she lay in the middle of the room, in immense pain and too injured to even move.

As Sophia gazed out the hole Omega had made in Alpha’s visor, she caught a glimpse of the black titan looming over her. Unit Omega then turned around, looking in the direction that the Radiant Swords had fled in, before roaring and laying down.

 _Thank the Gods,_ she thought. _Looks like Alpha_ _looked_ _dead enough to fool it._

Sophia coughed uncomfortably into her hand, expressing mild surprise once her fingers came away red. From her studies of her species’ biology, she managed to deduce that she had several broken ribs, fractures in nearly every other major bone, and possibly a number of internal puncture wounds as well.

She came up with a conclusion. That was a complete disaster.

Sophia lay there, thinking. From the way Omega had acted previously, it was probably going ro try and regenerate from its damage before going after the Radiant Swords. For what reason, Sophia wasn’t sure. It would likely take some time for Alpha’s auto-repair system to fully restore the machine’s functions, and Omega was set to finish first. Once it was ready, nothing short of divine intervention or her own actions were going to save those two from the black titan.

She sighed, before wincing from that action alone as she felt her organs scrape against some of her broken ribs. Willing her magic into her own body, she predicted that it would take a day to repair the damage her body had withstood. It was a miracle that she hadn’t died yet. Her eyes drifted around the room, which was surprisingly intact, only to glimpse a thick book labeled “Unit Alpha: Control Guide”.

“And I see this now?” Sophia thought aloud.

That was an excellent sign, though. If she didn’t make any threatening moves, it was unlikely that Omega would continue its onslaught. During that time, she could do what she did best - read. If all went as planned, she would know how to operate Unit Alpha by the time its repairs were finished, and she could immediately go save Ken and Yuki.

She just hoped that she wouldn’t be too late.

 

Bud shrieked as he crash-landed into a hill, sending two extremely tired youth tumbling off his back.

Ken rolled to a stop, panting heavily. They had been flying nonstop for almost an hour now, and darkness had overtaken the sky. While Bud could fly quite fast, Ken still felt as if that dark giant was right behind them, and the thought scared him.

Yuki let out a shuddering sigh. “That was terrifying.”

“Terrifying...is a bit of an understatement.” Ken replied. He took out his map and stared at it for a bit. “Unit Alpha brought us a long way. There should be a town nearby.”

Yuki shrugged. “Well, I hope Sophia’s okay. We owe her one.”

Ken looked a bit melancholic. “Yeah...but I have confidence in her. She’s survived way worse before. But I really wish we could have stayed a bit longer. She probably had so much information about this world. Imagine the kinds of secrets such knowledge could answer...hey, Yuki?”

Ken trailed off as he saw his friend silently inching closer and closer towards what appeared to be a small furry animal. The fat creature had pointy ears, a coat of downy gray fur, and beady black eyes. As Yuki approached it, it looked in her direction, squeaked, and bolted away.

“Get it!” Yuki yelled as she drew her sword and dashed after the animal.

Ken sighed in disappointment. Maybe Yuki was just a bit delirious after the prior events, but even he was willing to admit they deserved some fun after what had just happened. He drew his weapon and followed her.

Yuki swung her blade, missing the creature. Ken raised his own sword and launched a barrage of blue magic which rained down on the area around the thing, forcing it to dash back and forth erratically. Bud swooped down with the obvious intention to eat it, but the creature jumped out of the way and began running again.

“This thing is fast!” Ken shouted.

“Is it fast enough for this?” Yuki yelled as she fired a wave of blue beams.

The short answer was yes. The creature dodged every one of them.

“Oh, come on!” Yuki groaned.

As the creature ran, the two of them (and their mount) chased after it. Ken lunged at it, but only managed to catch empty air as he bit the dirt. As Yuki prepared to launch another magic barrage, there was a violet flash from several hundred meters away. A fraction of a second later, the creature violently burst before her eyes, leaving nothing but a scorched crater and a few chunks of nasty-looking sludge.

Yuki just stared at it, or at least what was left of it. “What.”

Ken picked himself up. “What happened? Did you catch it?”

“The thing just exploded!”

“Huh?”

Yuki squinted in the direction of the flash and gaped. Apparently she had tunnel-visioned so hard that she had failed to notice the massive complex now standing before them. The village she now looked upon looked nothing like she had ever seen. An imposing metal wall enclosed the village, which was composed of towering metal-and-brick buildings of the likes she had never even imagined. The entire place was brilliantly lit by countless glowing boxes on poles. And walking towards them were a group of...interesting looking people. They looked like ordinary men, but were clad in greyish, advanced-looking armor from the neck below. Their apparent leader held a strange, long device which resembled a kind of weapon.

The newcomers stopped. Their leader called out: “Who goes there?”

Yuki stood there in surprise before realizing she was still brandishing her glowing sword. Awkwardly, she sheathed it and bowed. “Uh...well, my name is Yuki no Hikari.”

Ken walked to her side, having realized what had just happened. “I’m Ken Hoshizora.”

Bud squawked as if to introduce himself as well.

The men looked at each other and breathed sighs of relief. “Oh, thank goodness. You’re just travellers, not Mechanoids.” said their leader. “The name’s Anthony. I’m the leader of our city guard.”

“City?” Ken asked.

“Yeah, Aurora. That’s where we live.” Anthony told them, somewhat confused. Surveying their clothing and weapons, realization crept across his face. “You two...you aren’t from around here, are you?”

Yuki shrugged. “Nope. We came here because we were chosen for some quest.”

Anthony simply nodded. “I see. Since you apparently bear no ill will, feel free to stay at our home for now. You two kids must be tired.”

As if on cue, both of them yawned in unison as if suddenly realizing they were tired. They had apparently been forcing out their last bits of energy chasing that animal.

Anthony chuckled. “Case in point. Come with us.”

“Wait...why did you blow up that animal, though?” Yuki asked sleepily.

“Uh...well, we had wanted to give you a warning shot,” Anthony said sheepishly, “but I guess that that animal happened to be there. This weapon here is incredibly accurate, so rest assured, you two were not in the way of harm.”

Both of them just nodded through blurry vision as Anthony led them through the gates and into a building. The next thing they knew, they were in a large, decorated room with two beds. “We’ve got a spare room here, so feel free to just crash here for the night.” Anthony told them. “You can catch up in the morning, when you’re not as tired.”

“Thanks a lot.” the two of them said together as they bowed respectfully.

Once they were left by themselves, both of them just collapsed on the nearest soft bed and instantly fell asleep. They were a lot more tired than they thought, after a day of witnessing the Phenomena and meeting Sophia. If they had still possessed enough energy, they probably would have noticed a number of interesting things about the city they had just entered. But that would have to wait for next morning. They were in for one hell of a surprise when they woke up.

 

Yuki groaned, her eyes fluttering. Noticing a bright stream of light assailing her murky vision from to her left, she tried to roll over and block it out. “Ken...what time is it? It’s bright...did we really sleep _that_ late?”

Normally, if she was sleeping on the ground as usual, this would have worked out just fine. However, since Yuki was on a bed for the first time in over a month, it didn’t work.

Yuki shrieked as she rolled right off the bed, only to land directly on top of Ken, who had apparently done the same earlier and continued to sleep. The boy was suddenly jolted awake by the impact and screamed as well.

Yuki was now wide awake. Looking around, she realized that they were not outside. Rather, they were in a decorated room which resembled some kind of bedroom. It was furnished in a manner that she had never seen before, and looked more like something from Sophia’s home than any other place they had visited. The entire room was painted a light beige color, and two soft beds flanked a clear glass table with a strange device on it. On the opposite side of the room, there was another metal table with several bottles of water on them. A lamp of some sorts hung over a maroon couch.

Ken grumbled as he tried to get Yuki off of him, but unfortunately they had gone to sleep still wearing their weapons and armor. Yuki was now too heavy to just shove aside, and Ken was not very willing to immediately use force against her.

In the end, he just settled with using his words. “Yuki, can you get off me?”

“Oh...uh, sorry about that.” Yuki stammered as she quickly jumped back onto the bed.

Ken got up. He looked around, and suddenly last night’s events came rushing back to him. “Hey...we went to sleep at that cool-looking village, right?”

“I think?” Yuki answered, tentatively feeling her bed. “This bed is really nice.”

“This place looks...interesting.” Ken mused. He walked over to a clear door and opened it, only for his eyes to widen as he looked upon a bustling street in a huge, alien-looking metropolis. The room they were in was more than twenty meters off the ground, and Ken was currently standing on a balcony of sorts.

“What is this?” Yuki asked, shielding her still-sensitive eyes from the blazing sun. “Who builds rooms this high up?”

Ken shrugged. This place was completely unfamiliar to him. Walking over to what appeared to be the main door, he opened it and found himself in a long hallway lined with doors that looked just like his own. In front of him were a pair of metal doors flanking what appeared to be a control panel with two buttons on it.

Yuki stepped out the door and assessed their environment. Seeing the buttons, she instinctively pressed one, and there was a dinging sound as the doors opened to reveal a small metal cabin filled with even more buttons.

Both of them entered the cabin and gazed around like kids in a candy store. Yuki deduced that since they wanted to go to the ground, they should push the lowest button. However, that button was labeled with an “L” instead.

“Uh...maybe L is for land?” Ken offered uncertainly.

Yuki shrugged and hit the switch, causing the doors to close. The pair then felt the cabin descending before there was a dinging sound and the doors opened again, this time facing a door leading outside.

As they stepped out of the cabin, a man behind a desk noticed them. He had neatly combed hair and a fancy black suit, the likes of which they had never seen before. “Hey, you two.” he called. “You’re those two kids from yesterday, right?”

Ken bowed. “Yes, we are.”

“Well, welcome to Aurora! You two go on outside. Our leader is waiting to speak with you.” the man told them. “I’m sure he’ll help you get acquainted with our home.”

The Radiant Swords followed his lead and stepped outside into the blazing sunlight. The street was full of people wearing strange clothes and lined with what appeared to be various vendors. The buildings were made of metal and what appeared to be solid concrete rather than bricks. It was quite strange.

As they looked around, Ken noticed that they were eliciting quite a bit of staring from the townsfolk. He didn’t blame them. After all, they were two youth wearing battle armor and carrying swords, in an unfamiliar settlement to boot.

Yuki picked up on someone approaching, and turned around to see the man from the last night, accompanied by a taller man he had never met. The unknown man wore a dark green shirt with a grey vest and beige pants just like her own. He was at least a head taller than her and had neatly cropped blond hair just like his cohort. His eyes were a dark brown to contrast to the other man’s bright blue, and he carried another long weapon similar to what they had seen yesterday.

The two men stopped in front of them. “So,” began the taller, “Are you the newcomers?”

“Uh...yes, sir.” Ken replied. “I’m Ken, and this is Yuki.”

The men looked at each other before the tall one spoke again. “Well, I’m Joseph, current mayor of Aurora and commander of our military force. This is Anthony, my second-in-command and the leader of our city guard. Pleased to meet you.”

He held out a hand, and both of them shook.

“I’ve been wondering...your names and attire aren’t really familiar to me.” Joseph went on. “I can tell you two aren’t from around here. Where’d you two come from?”

Ken rummaged around in his bag for his map before showing it to Joseph. Only upon looking at it did he realize how far they were from home. “See, we came from here.” he told Joseph, pointing at the village of Yume on the other side of the continent.

Joseph’s eyes widened. “Well then! You two have come a long way. But what I don’t know is why you two bothered coming all the way here.”

“Oh, that’s because we got selected for the quest.” Yuki piped up.

Now it was Anthony’s turn to be surprised. “You two are the chosen heroes?”

“Yep.” Yuki said, half proudly and half sadly.

Anthony eyed both of them suspiciously as if sizing them up. “No offense, but you two don’t really look like legendary heroes.”

Ken didn’t take any offense, but he still questioned that statement. Both of them were kind of skinny and a bit short, he supposed, but they were by no means frail-looking. Yuki seemed to have taken it a bit more personally, as she had a mildly displeased look on her face.

Joseph elbowed his companion. “Anthony, that was kind of mean.”

“Sorry, sir.”

Joseph just sighed and turned his attention back to the duo. “Don’t mind that. This is Anthony’s first time seeing the chosen ones, you see. I, on the other hand, saw a pair of heroes very much like yourselves four years ago.”

“Really?” Yuki asked. “What were they like?”

“They were two sisters, even younger than yourselves.” Joseph recalled. “They wanted to ask us about our technology, but we unfortunately couldn’t give them any answers to their specific questions. Speaking of which…” he trailed off, looking at their weapons. “Surely you two must have excellent weapons to have survived the quest for so long?”

“Yes, sir.” Ken said proudly as they both unsheathed their swords.

Both of the older men stared.

“What?” Yuki asked.

“You two survived using...those?” Joseph asked. “You must be incredibly strong.”

Ken was dumbfounded. “What’s wrong with our swords?”

Joseph shook his head. “You see, our village had the good fortune of being blessed with divine knowledge. Some time ago, the white titan came to the village on a mission given to it by the Gods themselves. The titan gave us numerous books, all of which held incredible knowledge on how to harvest Mechanoid technology for our own benefit. We’ve since used those books to greatly advance our own technology far beyond what the rest of the known world, but as you may have heard, Mechanoids are attracted to locations with combative strength. The Mechanoid attacks that we have dealt with are likely the most dangerous the world has ever seen. As such, we have had to develop advanced weaponry and a strong army to fight off the robotic threat.”

Anthony patted his weapon proudly. “Like this one here. This little toy is an anti-materiel rifle that fires plasma charges. A single shot from this thing can blow apart any lesser Mechanoid, and even larger ones will be staggered.”

“That’s so cool!” Yuki exclaimed, her eyes practically glowing from awe.

“Incredible.” Ken added. “But you said the white titan gave you this knowledge?”

Joseph nodded. “Yes. What about it?”

“Well...did you happen to see a young girl on the titan?” Ken asked.

Joseph suddenly turned around. “What did you say?”

“Did you see a girl on the titan when it gave you the books?”

The man’s eyes were filled with wonder. “I don’t believe it. I wasn’t there to see that, but I heard many stories about how it was a girl on the titan that had given us the books, not the titan itself. So...are you saying that the stories are real?”

“Yes.” Ken told him confidently. “We met her on the way here.”

Anthony shook his head. “That’s...incredible. Those are true?”

“So she was the one who made our village what it is now…” Joseph breathed. “Well, you said you met her. What was she like?”

“She’s a good person, but she’s incredibly lonely.” Yuki told him. “While she has all the knowledge she could ever desire, what she truly wishes for is companionship. Everyone is too scared of the machine she lives on to actually go and meet her.”

Joseph shook his head again. “Sounds dreadful. If the titan ever comes here again, I will make sure to personally meet this girl. Our village owes her a huge debt.”

Ken had just realized that they had walked all the way to a fenced balcony overlooking a vast expanse of water. Stopping, he ran to the fence and gazed at it in awe. “Is that the ocean?”

“Indeed it is, children.” Joseph told them. “I presume that from where you live, you have never seen this before?”

Yuki shook her head. “No. But it’s so pretty!”

For the two youth, the ocean was indeed a wonder to behold. While they had seen water this blue before, they had never seen it in such a vast quantity. The sun glinted off of the gently rolling waves, casting brilliant flares of light in all directions.

“The beach looks weird!” Ken shouted as he pointed excitedly. Indeed, the beach seemed to glitter with an unnatural light - a light the two of them had never seen sand exhibit in their lives before. The sand seemed to absorb the sun before refracting it into multicolored novae nearly as magnificent as the Prismatic Phoenix itself.

Joseph laughed. “Oh, yeah! That beach isn’t just normal sand, it seems to be made out of some kind of crystalline mineral, which we have dubbed Prismite. We’ve had our scientists look into it, and while it isn’t too useful, it sparkles magnificently. The Gods said that it resembled something from their world, called an aurora. That’s where our name comes from!”

Suddenly, Yuki pointed across the ocean. “Ken, is that…”

Ken squinted at the location her finger was pointed at. If he focused, he could see what appeared to be a small landmass connected to the mainland by a large land bridge. On that landmass, Ken could make out what appeared to be a large temple.

Anthony smiled. “Yes, that is indeed your destination! You stand before Electi Terram!”

Ken gaped. “We’re already that close? Why don’t we get going!”

As the Radiant Swords hastily turned around, Joseph stopped them. “Hold up one moment. You see that, there?”

Both of them looked between them and their destination, only to notice a massive metal goliath floating barely a kilometer away, docked on a shore which led straight to the city. The titanic machine was unlike anything they had seen before, but it was easy to tell it was no Mechanoid. The thing resembled a floating fortress more than anything else - a metal island bristling with weapons.

“What is that thing?” Yuki asked, a trace of fear audible in her voice.

Joseph stroked his chin. “Our scouts show that it’s a Mechanoid carrier - a gigantic metal fortress which creates and houses Mechanoid armies. We weren’t kidding when we said they were attracted to our place. We’ve had a number of these carriers attack our city in the past before.”

Yuki still didn’t really get it. “So why can’t we just plow our way through it?”

Anthony sighed. “Listen. That carrier contains some of the deadliest Mechanoids ever to exist on this planet. I’m not doubting your skills - especially since you made it this far using only _swords_ \- but you two wouldn’t last a second against that kind of power.”

“Anthony’s right.” Joseph continued. “Trying to rush past that carrier would be suicide. If my predictions are correct, the carrier is prepared to attack our village within the day. Once our army is prepared, we will hold off the Mechanoids and demolish that fortress. Then you two can head on to Electi Terram, okay?”

The Radiant Swords thought about that. “Then what do we do now?”

Joseph spread his arms. “You two can explore our home, of course. I know that you are very unfamiliar with this place, and this should be a good opportunity to see what the city has to offer. When the Mechanoids attack, you can come help us defend our city. After that, you can depart for your quest without having to worry about them.”

Ken nodded. “Sounds good to me.”

“Me too.” added Yuki.

“Excellent. I’ll be off to make preparations for our defense.” Joseph told them. “But first, I can tell that my compatriot here has questions for you. As the leader of the city guard, he shows a lot of interest in weaponry.”

Anthony nodded. “Indeed. What I want to know is how you two managed to survive out there using just those two swords. It seems highly improbable.”

“Well,” Yuki began, “Ken here is a really good blacksmith, and he created these incredibly strong swords for us when he was still young. We trained all our lives in the art of swordplay as well. Along the way, we went to a Magnum settlement and modified these weapons so they could conduct magic, and of course we learned how to use magic as well. Then it was a matter of training on Mechanoids and each other for the journey, and that’s pretty much it. Incorporating magic into our swordfighting did wonders for our combative ability.”

Joseph turned around, an incredulous look on his face. “Did you say magic?”

“Yep!” Yuki chirped proudly as she snapped her fingers, creating a nova of multicolored sparks. “It really helped take care of any Mechanoids that attacked us.”

Anthony looked flabbergasted. “That’s...really cool. I would love to see this in action, but that will have to wait. I have a meeting to attend. See you three around.”

And with that, he hastily left for who-knows-where.

“Magic, you say?” Joseph asked. “Those two kids that showed up before said they could use magic as well. Huh.”

“Well, if we could learn it, there’s nothing stopping anyone else from learning it.” Ken said. “Maybe those two kids were actually Magnum.”

“Magnum…” Joseph mused. Noticing a buzzing device on his wrist, he tapped it and turned back to them. “It’s been a nice talk, but I have to go. Have fun exploring, you two. I’ll make sure to get back to you later.”

The duo waved to Joseph before turning to each other. They were now alone in a completely unfamiliar city, surrounded by foreign people and technology beyond their understanding. What could possibly go wrong?

 

“Have a wonderful day.”

“Thank you!”

As morning became afternoon, the Radiant Swords re-entered the blazing sunlight of the outdoors. After exploring the city, they had decided to have lunch at a parlor and try out some new food. Ken held something the vendor had called a “hamburger”, a cooked slice of meat between two buns. Yuki had gotten a slice of what was apparently “pizza”, a triangular slice of dough topped with melted cheese, sauce, and discs of meat.

“Hmm…” Ken mused as he took a bite of his burger. “The food here is really unique. The meat is cooked in a very different way than what we’re used to back at home. What do you think, Yuki?”

Yuki chewed her food methodically, trying to identify specific tastes. “It’s pretty good. These combinations of ingredients really feel like something I would have tried at home, yet the way they made this food is fundamentally different from the way I cook. But...as good as it is, it definitely has too much oil for my liking.”

“Huh. You’re right.” Ken mused. “It’s good, but I can practically feel grease oozing from this thing. This can’t be very healthy.”

The two of them walked over to a balcony and stared around. On their left, they saw dozens of people operating machinery to construct a massive building. On their right, they saw Joseph barking indistinct orders to a huge troop of armed soldiers, who were marching and turning with incredible synchronization.

“Those guys seem really well trained.” Ken said in awe. “They move perfectly in sync. No wonder Aurora’s defenses could hold off the Mechanoids.”

Yuki nodded enthusiastically. “Joseph must be a really strong leader to be able to train his troops like that. It probably takes a lot to inspire such obedience.”

As Yuki nodded, she picked up on a massive presence behind her. “Hey, Ken?” she asked. “Why do I feel like there’s a huge crowd behind us?”

Ken turned around and was greeted by just that.

Turns out that there had been an extremely large group of people following them for quite some time now, and now said crowd seemed to explode before their eyes, releasing a swarm of people bombarding them with questions.

“How does it feel to go on the quest?”

“What was it like back at your place?”

“Did you actually meet the white titan?”

The Radiant Swords were overwhelmed at first, but they quickly got accustomed to it and started answering questions left and right. This wasn’t something they were used to, although it _had_ happened before once. That was another story.

 _Wow, Joseph’s been busy,_ both of them thought. _Everyone knows about us now._

This Q&A session lasted for about ten minutes, but it felt like an eternity.

A boy stepped forward. “So are you just skipping school to go on the quest?”

Ken was puzzled. “What’s school?”

The boy made a half-choking-half-painfully-dying sound and retreated.

“What do you think about Aurora?” another woman asked.

Yuki responded this time. “It’s way bigger than our home, and it’s really cool. It’s incredible what we can do if we have the knowledge and effort.”

Most of the questions were relatively simple and forgettable, but there was one that piqued the duo’s interest.

“Hey,” a young woman who approached them called, “It sounds like you two had fun on this quest. How could you enjoy yourselves if you knew you were probably going to die at the end of it all?”

Both Radiant Swords fell completely silent.

The woman shuffled uncomfortably. “Um...I’m sorry if that came out wrong. I know that I wouldn’t be able to keep my chin up in your situation.”

But both of them were just thinking. After a minute, Ken spoke up. “Well, I guess we just focused on the good and tried to leave the bad. The quest isn’t all bad, after all.”

Yuki nodded in agreement. “Maybe you could say it’s a coping mechanism. I believe that everyone should have fun after traumatic experiences, to stop them from dragging you down for too long. But I don’t know for sure. We just go with the flow and try to make the best of it, I guess.”

Another girl piped up. “You two must be, like, awfully close to be able to survive this long. I read in a book that bonds between fighters matter a lot.”

Yuki laughed and clapped Ken on the shoulder, which would have looked a lot less silly if Ken hadn’t been a good five centimeters taller than her. “Heh, you’re right. Me and Ken here are basically brother and sister at this point.”

Ken nodded in agreement. “Tell me about it.”

The girl opened her mouth to say something before closing it.

A young boy raised his hand. “Joseph said that you somehow got here with just swords! How is that even possible?”

Ken unsheathed his blade as Yuki did the same. “I don’t know why everyone keeps asking this. Our swords are perfectly fine, especially since we used magic to amplify their power. Isn’t this how even you used to fight?”

The boy shrugged. “I guess, but now all of us just use guns. They’re far more damaging and can shoot from long range. Maybe your magic is better, but still...”

Suddenly, Yuki gasped as she realized something. “Hey...I just noticed. Why are all of you carrying some kind of weapon?”

Ken’s eyes widened as he realized his friend was right. Attached to nearly every citizen’s belt was some kind of weapon, probably a small “gun” as they called it.

An older man stepped forward. “Well, we get attacked by Mechanoids a lot. It’s been a recommendation ever since we got this technology that everyone of age should carry some kind of firearm with them.”

“Isn’t that really unsafe, though?” Ken asked.

“Hmm. The Gods had that exact same concern when we originally told them about it.” the man mused. “We took a risk and did it regardless, but we’ve had no problems yet. Everyone is well-versed in gun safety, and all of us are extremely careful with firearms. Not to mention, nobody has shot anyone yet. Why would anyone ever want to shoot one of their fellow citizens?”

Ken thought about that. “I guess you’re right.”

The same boy from before stepped forward again. “Well, you two...your using of swords and magic and stuff really sounds like something out of a story. Um...can I see your fighting in action?”

The Radiant Swords looked at each other and smiled knowingly.

 

About a minute later, a circle of onlookers had gathered around the foreign youths. At opposing edges of the circle, Ken and Yuki stood firm. With a flourish, both of them drew their swords, bowed to each other, and entered battle stances.

To show off their skills and powers, the two of them had decided to hold a public duel for the citizens of Aurora to see. For both of them, the duel was quite important - to Yuki because she wanted to prove her victory against Ken wasn’t a fluke, to Ken because he wanted to prove to Aurora that swords were perfectly viable weapons for combat.

At an appointed man’s whistle, both fighters instantly lunged at each other. As they crossed paths, both of them swung their swords in sync, emitting a resonating clank which echoed through the crowd. They then followed up with a series of perfectly mirrored slashes executed almost faster than the eye could see, causing the crowd to gasp in awe.

As the Radiant Swords decided that it was time to put on a show, both of their blades - and eyes - began to glow brightly. With a sweeping motion, Ken unleashed a massive torrent of fire at his opponent. Yuki slashed in response, forming a fierce gale which sheared apart Ken’s attack. As the crowd applauded, Yuki waved her blade, creating numerous multicolored razorblades that launched themselves at her opponent.

Ken hacked at the razorblades, but they seemed to just rebound before coming for him again. Raising his sword, he generated a spherical barrier which just barely blocked the brunt of the attack before he cleaved the razorblades in half. He then looked up to see Yuki firing a golden beam straight at him, which staggered him despite his blocking of it. Yuki’s magic had incredible power behind it, and if she kept attacking him from range he was sure to lose this duel.

Preparing a rune at his feet, Ken launched himself into the air before dropping down on Yuki with a massive slash. The girl quickly sidestepped, and Ken’s attack created a huge nova of pent-up magic.

Ken, however, wasted no time, immediately going in for a sideways slash. Yuki parried it, but flinched as she was reminded of how much power Ken had in his physical strikes. She stepped back and slashed several times in succession, each attack firing off a crescent-shaped blade of blue energy. Rather than simply dodge them, Ken opted to parry each strike before it could fire, sending the glowing blades careening off course.

Yuki wasn’t about to let that stop her, though. She immediately lunged at Ken, prompting him to parry the strike before producing a circular barrier encapsulating both of them. With growing dread, Yuki realized that Ken had essentially just locked her in with him, and without her ranged magic her chances of overcoming his melee combat were slim. Sighing, she hefted her sword and lunged.

What followed next was the most impressive close-quarters brawl the citizens of Aurora had ever witnessed. Both combatants engaged each other with an impossibly fast barrage of slashes and lunges, each strike causing a magic nova to flare to life. Supplementing their attacks with bursts of magical power, the bubble Ken had created soon became a storm of flashing metal and multicolored explosions of light. Whatever doubts that the people of Aurora once had about the Radiant Swords’ abilities vanished in an instant upon seeing this display of power.

With a shout, the two of them locked blades, sparks of magic flying in all directions. As Ken pulled out of the blade lock, Yuki immediately capitalized on the opportunity to strike the now-damaged barrier trapping them with a magically-charged lunge, instantly shattering it. However, as she turned around to face her opponent, Ken had already bore down on her and begun attacking with a slicing storm of slashes from every angle. Yuki tried to maintain her distance, but Ken was pressing her far too hard to allow for that. She decided to retaliate with her own rapid series of strikes, only to realize too late that engaging Ken in a straight-up melee fight was a bad idea.

With a decisive strike, Ken overpowered Yuki’s blade with a strong sideways slash and staggered her. During that crucial second, he lunged and knocked the sword out of her hands, sending it clattering to the pavement below. As Yuki backed up in shock, Ken quickly zeroed in on his target, stopped right in front of her, and lightly tapped her on the shoulder with the flat of his blade.

“First touch. I win.”

The crowd burst into thunderous applause as the two youth bowed to each other. Many of them were now wondering if they even needed guns to survive the Mechanoids. However, it was evident that those two kids were incredibly talented. It was easy to tell that not everyone could achieve such a level of swordsmanship and raw power.

As the Radiant Swords laughed together and answered questions, a flabbergasted Joseph approached them along with an equally stunned Anthony. The mayor of Aurora seemed almost lost for words before clearing his throat. “...Wow. I would have never imagined that you two could do something like that. I must commend you for becoming so strong. Surely you two must have practiced for countless years.”

“You’re right, sir.” Ken said between deep breaths. “Ever since we could hold swords.”

Anthony nodded to them. “We apologize for underestimating you earlier. Despite your weapons, your strength is astounding - likely even surpassing that of our best soldiers. You will likely be a major asset in the upcoming battle.

“Yeah, that reminded me!” Yuki exclaimed. “When are the Mechanoids attacking?”

Joseph took out what appeared to be a glowing tablet. “Well, I’ve done all necessary preparations, and the carrier has moved within five kilometers of our position. If I’m correct, they should attack within the hour.”

“We’ll help protect your city!” came the determined shouts of the swordfighter duo.

“We’re ready to fight for Aurora, sir!” came the proud roar of the crowd.

Turning towards the crowd, Joseph began to shout orders. “All of you! Get your combat gear, and begin the procedure for the event of a Mechanoid attack! We’ve practiced this many times, so get a move on!”

As the crowd scattered, Joseph turned back towards the two youths. “Well, this is it. I could tell you two were holding back during that fight, and I appreciate that you tried not to damage the city. Thanks for that.”

Yuki bowed. “It’s the least we can do. Also, we were trying not to hurt each other.”

Anthony smiled. “Well, you don’t need to hold back any more. Let’s see some of your true power - this time, turned against our enemies.”

 

Diana and Matheus sat in front of a computer screen, arranging for the upcoming attack. The city of Aurora had proved to be incredibly resilient to Mechanoid invasions, and how they adapted with their new technology was a valuable observation for their research. Now, it was up to them to plan out the next attack - pushing the city harder and harder until they overcame all their challenges or crumbled before them.

“I only realized this now, but this reminds me a bit of those combat planning games.” Matheus mused. “I remember that I used to play those when I was younger.”

Diana chuckled. “Really? I didn’t think that you were the type to play those.”

“Alright, so I’ve decided to invent a more creative scenario this time.” Matheus began. He gestured towards small images on the screen. “I’m sending in that thing, which will be incredibly hard for them to beat. On the other hand, the defenders will have an opportunity to exploit those machines to defeat it - something that had never been done before in all the times that these specific Mechanoids have been sent. I’m testing for creativity - if they can piece together their information fast enough, and if they’re brave enough to try it.”

“That looks very difficult. Are you sure that isn’t too hard for them?” Diana asked concernedly. “We’re not trying to wipe them out.”

“Diamonds are made under pressure, Diana.” Matheus replied firmly.

As Diana programmed the remainder of the attack, Matheus recalled something. “Hey, Diana, do you think you’ve been a bit hard on Michael? Like, in general?”

Diana turned around. “I was definitely a bit too hard on him yesterday. I don’t know what got into me. But...well, he has his own issues. He’s caused unnecessary pain to the citizens of Territe, and that’s not even getting into what his grandfather did. Besides, I’m not being _too_ hard, am I?”

Matheus stroked his chin. “Maybe not. He’s always taken insults far too seriously. Me and my business partners insult each other all the time, and nobody gets angry.”

“Fair point,” Diana replied. “But you really got me thinking about that…”

Matheus seemed deep in thought, but shook it off. “Save it for another day, Diana. Our time is limited, and we need to get this underway. You ready to launch it?”

Diana hesitated, then nodded. “Yes.”

So with finality, Matheus walked over and pressed a red button labeled “Launch Attack”.

Both researchers watched the onslaught commence. “Best of luck to you all.”

 

“What’s that?”

“That’s so cool!”

“How did you make that?”

Anthony was becoming both prideful and irritated because of the Radiant Swords’ constant prodding. The two youth had started behaving like kids in a candy store upon reaching their backline defenses, which were bristling with heavy artillery and other weapons. Anthony tried his best to explain what each weapon did and how it worked, but their curiosity seemed boundless. His own patience and knowledge, not so much.

Joseph seemed highly amused by this whole ordeal. “I’m trying to imagine you as a proud father, Anthony. Showing off all the defenses you helped organize to your kids.”

Anthony groaned. “The mere fact that you’re imagining that concerns me.”

As the group squinted at the horizon, where a mechanical army was amassing, soldiers with all manner of high-tech weaponry were scurrying around. As Ken looked even further to the oncoming army, he frowned. “Those Mechanoids look really different from the ones we’ve been seeing.”

Indeed, the machines that now approached them looked almost nothing like those that the Radiant Swords had battled in the past. Rather than the varying shades of grey they had been before, all of the Mechanoids here were the same shade of dark silver. Their armor seemed to glitter in an unnatural way, glowering with iridescent light whenever the sun shone on it.

“That’s to be expected.” Anthony told them. “These are the supermen of the Mechanoid force. Stronger, more heavily armored, and even boasting intelligence rivaling that of our own men. The telltale sheen of their armor is an indicator of their power, since we’ve deduced that it’s created by a shielded layer encasing it.”

Ken seemed deep in thought as Yuki gripped her sword hilt in anticipation. This was, by far, the biggest Mechanoid army they had ever seen in their lives. Countless different machines of war stood before them, some from their past experiences and some only seen in Sophia’s books. Both of them shuddered from a sudden jolt of unwelcome memories as they spied several Devourers, all clad in dark, glowing armor.

A man ran up to Anthony. “Sir, all of our artillery systems are online. Rocket batteries have been calibrated as you asked, and all of our other weapons are on standby. What are you orders, sir?”

Anthony nodded. “Good job. Inform our gunners that they may fire when ready.”

The man nodded before turning to the backline. “The order is given. Fire!”

Like a slumbering beast that had been violently awakened, the rows of heavy weapons dotting the Auroran side of the battlefield suddenly came to life, firing off a deafening fusillade of explosive ordnance. Ken and Yuki clutched their ears in surprise as a storm of shells and rockets soared above their heads, seemingly rending the very air they had just breathed minutes ago. As the artillery met its mark, massive explosions erupted within the Mechanoid lines, wiping out many of them outright.

The Auroran artillery force wasn’t done, though. The bombardment continued for several minutes, sending hundreds of fiery streaks into the opposing army. Five minutes later, it stopped - only for soldiers to immediately begin reloading the weapons.

Yuki was practically hyperventilating. “That...was _really loud._ ”

Joseph scratched his head sheepishly. “Sorry about that.”

“We’re just not used to such weapons being used, that’s all.” Ken assured them. “These weapons are incredible. I can see the benefits of attacking the Mechanoids from a distance, before they even get close enough to fight properly.”

Anthony nodded. “Artillery won’t stop them, though. It’ll flush out the weaker cannon fodder, but it’ll only serve to stagger some of the larger machines. We can’t keep this up forever, since we’ll hit our own men once close-quarters combat begins.

Ken nodded. “I see.”

Sure enough, the Mechanoids pushed through the artillery barrage and charged straight into the Auroran forces as they prepared for combat.

Joseph raised his weapon, his eyes gleaming with an inspiring sheen. “For Aurora!”

“For Aurora!” came the roars of Anthony and the entire Auroran military.

Ken and Yuki unsheathed their swords and mirrored their battle cry. “For Aurora!”

The two opposing armies smashed into each other.

Ken was immediately lost in the chaos. Blindly grasping around in the crowd of people and machinery, he eventually felt Yuki’s hand grab his and pull him towards her. Looking around now that they were reunited, the Radiant Swords observed the power of the new technology that had been gifted to the city of Aurora. The “guns” the Auroran soldiers were using discharged countless bursts of blinding light which violently exploded on impact with anything, gradually tearing the Mechanoids to shreds. Looking to their left, they glimpsed Anthony calmly aiming his rifle, each shot making an echoing boom as it utterly disintegrated his targets, one by one.

Yuki lightly tapped Ken on the shoulder as a Sentinel bore down on them. Compared to the Sentinels they had battled before, it seemed slightly larger and more heavily built. Instead of its twin arm-mounted energy blades, it wielded two large metal machetes which it held in a defensive stance.

The Radiant Swords stepped back in alarm. _It knows how to defend!_

Ken charged it and began his attack. The Sentinel began to fight back with a fury Ken had never seen in a Mechanoid before, blocking his strikes with ease while retaliating with wide, fast slashes that Ken dodged at first. But as the machine kept on attacking, Ken was forced to block the strikes instead - something that was easier said than done, due to the immense power of the machine’s strikes.

Yuki was stunned. _They’re not just stronger, but smarter! How can they fight like people?_

She decided that it was time to get involved. Leaping into action, she charged her sword with fiery magic and swung the blade into the Sentinel’s exposed flank. Normally this would tear it in half, but her sword only caused a ripple across its armor as the shield that they had failed to notice before disintegrated. The Sentinel whirred angrily as it turned its attention to Yuki, who quickly jumped back and fired off a barrage of gold arrows. However, to her utter surprise, the Sentinel swung its blades with incredible speed, cutting the arrows out of the air.

As Yuki squeaked in alarm, Ken attacked from behind, forcing the machine to focus on him instead. As the Sentinel attacked once more, Ken began noticing a pattern in its attacks. After blocking another twin-bladed strike, he stabbed at the Mechanoid experimentally, causing it to block the strike. Feigning surprise, Ken smiled as the Sentinel took the opportunity to strike, only for him to duck under the attack. As the machine reeled from the missed strike, Ken charged his next strike and lunged, tearing a hole straight through the machine. His defeated opponent whirred pitifully as it powered down and collapsed in a smoking heap.

“Ken...these things can fight just like us!” Yuki yelled. “How can they do that?”

Ken shrugged, although his concern was as clear as day. “I have no idea. These were just _Sentinels_ . We’re going to have to be really careful if we want to deal with the stronger machines in that army.”

Yuki turned around in alarm as she saw a Stryker come from behind her and unfurl its weapons. However, Joseph jumped in front of her, raised his weapon, and opened fire, enveloping the four-legged war machine in a blanket of bright blue blasts. As the Stryker shook its head and opened fire with its twin blasters, Joseph rolled between its bladed legs and unloaded another volley straight into its underside. The energy blasts tore through its armor and ignited it from the inside out, causing it to stutter and collapse.

Joseph panted heavily. He had evidently been in some skirmishes of his own, since he was covered in soot and had several small cuts on his face. “You guys okay?”

“We’re fine, sir.” Ken told him. “We apologize for not heeding your advice. These are really strong Mechanoids, and we’ll have to be a little more smart about fighting them.”

Yuki sighed. “Tell me about it.”

Joseph just nodded. “I’ve seen your power. I’m sure that once you get used to their attack patterns, they should fall very quickly.

Ken and Yuki nodded and got back to work.

Joseph had been right. For the next couple minutes, both of them stood back and observed the behavioral patterns of their advanced opponents. When it came time to defend, they treated each one with the caution they should have exercised earlier - probing for weakness, baiting out reckless attacks, and retaliating when the time was ripe. While the Mechanoids were far more durable than their normal counterparts, once their shields had been taken down they would still be cut down fairly quickly.

As a Sentinel attacked Ken, he blocked its blades before using magic to start heating its swords. As the machine backed up in surprise, Ken took it down with two magically-charged strikes - one for the shield, and one for its head.

Meanwhile, Yuki was dealing with another Sentinel. She knew that the sword-wielding robots were able to deflect magic attacks, so she switched up her tactics with a storm of green energy blades which swirled _around_ her target before attacking from all angles. The Sentinel could only deflect so many blades at once, especially since they were coming from all directions, and it quickly found itself torn to shreds by the magical storm.

An Enforcer stomped into the fray, and Yuki immediately shattered its barrier with a well-placed lunge. As the machine electrified its fists and attempted to bash her face into the dust, she jumped aside and took the opening to sever its antennae, depriving it of its ability to discharge electricity. As the machine whirred in anger, Ken sensed a Stryker M2 approaching from behind, and ducked aside just as the machine swung its blades - directly into the Enforcer’s head. While the Enforcer’s lights sputtered out and the Stryker seemed paralyzed with surprise, Yuki jumped onto its head and stabbed its compound eyes out before lobbing a fireball into the cavity, causing the entire machine to go up in flames and explode.

As they became more adept at avoiding their enemies’ attack patterns, they began to unleash the full extent of their combative abilities against their foes. Ken fought like a demon, tearing Mechanoids limb from limb with his blade while using magic barriers to block any attacks that would have posed a threat to him. Yuki, on the other hand, unleashed massive discharges of elemental magic in all directions, which dispersed throughout the air before finding their targets in the form of Mechanoid heads.

As the two youths poured their very souls into their task at hand, all the soldiers around them paused in between shots to look upon the spectacle. Anyone that hadn’t seen the Radiant Swords’ earlier duel was completely blown away by the mere fact that guns weren’t the only answer to the Mechanoid problem. Anyone that _had_ seen their earlier duel was now fully convinced that these two kids weren’t to be trifled with.

The duo fought...and fought...and fought. The Mechanoid army wasn’t showing any signs of relenting, and both of them were getting tired after hours of fighting. As a strange, cephalopodic machine that he recognized as an Octopod approached, Ken raised his sword to unleash another thunderbolt...then collapsed on one knee, coughing.

“Ken?” Yuki asked, running over urgently.

Ken gasped and wheezed. His eyes were flickering on and off, and he seemed more tired than Yuki had ever seen him. “I...think I just ran out of magic.”

Yuki’s blood froze. Due to the relatively benign nature of their battles so far, they had never had to expend so much magic at once before - and now, Yuki remembered what Magnus had said about magic being limited. Ken must have burned himself out for the time being, and likely needed time to recharge  - time that they might not have.

While Ken probably had a lower magic capacity than the more magically-inclined Yuki, she suspected their reserves were at least similar. And that meant that unless she was conservative, she was primed to quickly burn herself out as well.

The Mechanoid that they had forgotten about made a strange gurgling sound and began spewing nasty-smelling black sludge from a nozzle on its mouth. Yuki generated a shield to deflect the fluid, which scattered around them and started eating away at the ground.

“I can still fight with my sword.” Ken breathed, shakily getting to his feet.

“That’s great, but don’t push yourself.” Yuki replied. “I’ll try to handle this.”

The Octopod attacked, extending numerous prehensile tentacles and sending them all flying toward the Light of Courage. Yuki ducked and weaved between the tentacles, tearing them from their master’s body with her katana. As the machine reared back and spat a high-pressure stream of water, Yuki used her telekinesis to redirect it so that it sliced through a nearby boulder instead of her body.

Just as the Octopod prepared another water jet, Ken flanked it and swung his sword at its translucent black body, destroying the shield that once encased it. While it was occupied, Yuki pointed her blade at it and unleashed a furious thunderbolt, frying the machine instantly.

About a dozen Sentinels attacked from the right, and Ken engaged one in melee combat. However, without his magic, he was easily overpowered and was being forced backwards by the machine’s furious sword strikes. Yuki used magic to shield him and discharged countless lances of light that tore through their foes like butter. But as she pointed her sword at the last Sentinel, she was suddenly overcome by a dreadful feeling - one that felt like her heart had suddenly gone into cardiac arrest. Collapsing on the ground, her vision became tinted with dull gray shadows. She was aware of Ken tearing her attacker’s head off with his sword, but all of her senses were being numbed by the throbbing pain within her chest.

“Yuki? Are you alright?” Ken asked, kneeling down to her eye level.

The girl coughed uncomfortably and grimaced. “...Ow, that hurt. It looks like I must’ve ran out of magic as well. Huh...this sucks.”

“Well, we might be _extremely_ dead now.” Ken said grimly. “We’re in the middle of a war zone, physically fatigued, and out of magic.”

As if on cue, an advanced Devourer unearthed itself in front of the two and screeched. Yuki immediately went in for an attack, but in her tired state the strike simply ricocheted off of the Devourer’s shield. The machine knocked her aside with its head before roaring at Ken, who attempted to stab through its barrier. While the attack did shatter the prismatic shield, the Devourer simply used its head to bat him aside as well, sending him tumbling into Yuki. As the two of them looked up in a daze, they saw the mechanical worm loom over them and open its jaws to snap them in half. Resigning themselves to their failure, they just sighed, grasped each other’s hands, and closed their eyes in preparation for their gruesome end.

Both of them had questioned many times what death would feel like. Was it simply a loss of sensation and thought? Was it a sudden burst of agonizing pain? Would they be spirited away to another world the instant their hearts ceased to beat?

But the only thing that happened was a loud crashing noise.

Ken opened his eyes and gasped as he saw that the mechanical worm which had been poised to kill them both just five seconds ago had been slammed out of the ground by a hulking metal behemoth. The machine wasn’t a Mechanoid, but it was unlike anything he had ever seen in his entire life. The thing vaguely resembled a carriage, except it was made of dark metal, had strange belts instead of wheels, and was bristling with weaponry.

As Yuki groaned and got up, the vehicle unleashed a storm of missiles at the Devourer, enveloping it in furious explosions. As the machine shrieked in agony, what appeared to be a frontal cannon fired, tearing the thing’s head right off. As both of them looked on in awe, a hatch on the vehicle’s roof opened and Anthony poked his head out.

The Auroran military man had a grin on his face. “Don’t go dramatically dying just yet!”

“Anthony? What is that?” Yuki asked incredulously.

Anthony grinned again in response. “This, my friends, is called a tank. Joseph deduced that we needed more firepower, so he allowed us to roll these bad boys out. Most Mechanoids will be crushed by the amount of firepower it holds, and it can take a good amount of punishment as well.

“That’s...amazing, sir.” Ken breathed. “Thank you so much for saving us. You have no idea how fast my heart is beating right now.”

“Mine is probably beating faster.” Yuki retorted.

Both of them put their hands on the other’s chest and flinched before speaking in unison. “That can’t be good for your health.”

They looked at each other, and both of their eyes glowered when they simultaneously realized what their counterpart was thinking. Again, they spoke in unison. “You’re about to tell me to head to safety, are you? Well, in case you’re telling me to go off on my own, there’s _no way in hell_ I’m ditching you here.”

Both of them stared at each other and couldn’t help but laugh. That was the longest shared sentence they had ever experienced in their lives.

Anthony sighed. “That was kind of unnecessary, but adorable. You two are so sweet.”

“Why does everyone think that?” Yuki asked obliviously.

Anthony just shook his head at how dense these two kids were.

Joseph ran up to them. “Hey, you guys! You okay?”

Anthony grinned. “Couldn’t be better.”

“Shut up, Anthony. I saw you get thrashed by that Magnetron until I stepped in.” Joseph told him smugly. “We’ve got bad news.”

“What?” all three of them asked simultaneously.

They got their answer when a colossal, humanoid shape stomped into the fray.

Ken’s heart nearly stopped. The thing that had just walked into view was easily the biggest Mechanoid he had ever laid eyes upon. Towering at least fifteen meters tall and encapsulated in thick black armor, the metallic behemoth didn’t seem to have any weapons deployed, yet it was clear that the thing possessed more power in its body alone than any other Mechanoid had in its entire armament.

“Holy…” Anthony muttered.

“What is that?” Yuki and Ken breathed in unison.

Joseph paled at the sight of the colossus. “That there is what we’ve been calling the Juggernaut. A massive, merciless engine of war and death, that thing is the epitome of Mechanoid power. All of it’s past appearances were shrouded in myth, but I suppose now we all know it really exists. And that’s _not a good thing_.”

Numerous tanks rolled into action and began firing volumes of missiles and shells at the war machine. While their attacks struck true, they appeared to deflect off a glowing shield that encapsulated the robot. As the tanks valiantly continued their assault, the Juggernaut walked up to one and kicked it, sending it flying several dozen meters away, where it exploded. Turning to two more tanks firing at it from behind, it materialized two massive swords made of red energy and slashed at its offenders, cleanly bisecting them.

As it marched towards the city wall, an artillery emplacement fired, shattering its barrier. The Juggernaut roared in anger and raised a hand, revealing two barrels mounted on its wrist. It fired a massive burst of explosive blasts, which erased the emplacement from existence, before raising both hands and laying waste to the armored vehicles surrounding it with a sustained barrage of gunfire.

As the Juggernaut effortlessly punched through the city wall, the four Nanos standing by Anthony’s tank watched in horror. Ken and Yuki were particularly disturbed. _How the hell is that thing so powerful?_ they thought. _And how are we supposed to take it down?_

Joseph sighed, putting his head in his hands. “We’ll have to mobilize every last capable fighter and weapon system in the damn city. Taking down that monster is our only concern now. There’s no telling what kind of damage a Mechanoid that powerful can wreak if it’s inside our city.”

“I will go assist you, sir.” Anthony solemnly offered.

Ken and Yuki were about to say something similar, but their eyes drifted to a small platoon of odd Mechanoids locked in combat with a number of soldiers. The machines were about eight meters tall, vaguely humanoid in shape, and had an odd weapon attached to each of their forearms. As they watched, the weapon seemed to be able to transform from a sword to some kind of blaster in the blink of an eye, the latter of which they were currently using to shoot at the soldiers fighting them on the ground. But the most intriguing thing they noticed was that they had what appeared to be a _glowing blue cabin_ nestled in their chests.

“Hey...you’re seeing this, right?” Ken asked.

Yuki nodded. “Those cabins look really suspicious. If I knew better, I’d reckon you could actually get inside that thing.”

Both Joseph and Anthony turned around in surprise. “What did you say?”

“That sounds like something the Gods would do to test us, huh?” Ken muttered. Turning to the Auroran generals, he told them his plan. “You two can go on to mount your final defense. I have a hunch that I can actually head over there and take control of one of those machines, which I can then use to fight the Juggernaut.”

Yuki stepped forward. “You missed the part where I go with you.”

Anthony summed up the situation in three words. “Are you insane?”

“Hmm...now that I think of it, that might be possible. We’ve never seen these machines before, but that cabin does look like a cockpit of sorts. But...you can’t do this! You’ll be in great danger!” Joseph told him.

“You two need to defend your city. Not to mention, sir, our magic is still recharging.” Yuki told them. “We’ll be no help in a fight if we don’t try this.”

Unlike the village leaders before them, Joseph had little objection to their reasoning. “Well...you make a good point. We’ll head off to defend our city. As for you two...well, best of luck. If it’s our last time seeing you, just know that we were honored to meet you.”

“Thank you. May fortune favor your mission as well.” Yuki replied.

As the two Auroran generals drove off in their tank, the Radiant Swords turned towards the bizarre machines they intended to take for their own. Their plan was a crazy idea founded by nothing but visual observations, but it seemed just crazy enough to work.

 

By the time the Radiant Swords reached their targets, most of them had been destroyed, leaving only two behind. However, the soldiers they had been fighting had either been slaughtered or forced to retreat, since they were nowhere in sight.

The duo hid behind a demolished tank, only to see inside and suppress the urge to vomit. This tank had apparently taken a massive hit, and the drivers within had been practically blasted apart. They had learned from their experience in Eulogia that they couldn’t allow violence and gore to stunt their combat, but seeing the blood, limbs, and viscera scattered around the vehicle still made both of them want to curl up in a corner.

As they approached their targets from behind, both machines seemed to be preoccupied with their slow march to the hole in the city wall. For some strange reason, the Mechanoids had seemingly vanished along with the soldiers - maybe they had already moved into the hole that the Juggernaut had made? Well, for now, they were alone with their targets and the countless Mechanoid and Nano bodies that littered the battlefield.

They snuck up closer...and closer still. Once Ken was within a meter of one of the machines, he checked his magic stores and found that he had regenerated some. Taking a deep breath, he prepared a rune at his feet and launched himself over the machine and onto the cockpit, grabbing hold of an armor plate for stability.

The effect was immediate. The Mechanoid abruptly stopped walking and began shaking itself wildly in an attempt to rid itself of its unwanted visitor. Ken yelped as he nearly lost his grip, only to find another protrusion sticking out of the cabin. As the machine swung him around, he noticed that there was a small green switch near the rim of the cabin. Groaning, he started clawing his way towards it amidst the constant shaking.

The second Mechanoid, after looking for an opening to knock Ken off its teammate, seemingly gave up and turned towards Yuki, who yelped in alarm. The mechanized blade on its arm extended, divided in half, and began charging a sphere of energy between its two prongs. As it aimed at Yuki, she took off like a bullet, seeking cover behind a nearby tank just as the machine fired a concentrated beam of energy. The blast obliterated the tank and would have taken Yuki’s head off if she hadn’t lay flat on the ground at the last second. She got up, dusted herself off, and started running again once she saw her adversary charging another shot.

Ken grunted as the machine he was clinging to flailed madly. Reaching over to the switch, he slammed it with his fist, causing the glass cabin to slide open. Panting, he rolled into the cabin, which had a strange apparatus and a number of joystick-like controls, and manually slid the door shut behind him.

Immediately, the cool blue glow of the cabin changed to a brighter green one as Ken heard machinery whirring in the background. Hesitantly easing himself into the controls, he heard a dry, masculine voice begin speaking from a device on the wall. _“Welcome! If you’re hearing this message, that means that you had both the ingenuity and bravery to take over and pilot an Elite, one of the most powerful Mechanoids ever conceived. Congratulations.”_

Despite being elated at his success, Ken groaned. “Who designed this announcement?”

The voice continued. _“Beware - after approximately one minute, this unit will be seen as hostile by all other Mechanoids. This unit comes equipped with a shock-resistant cockpit, a personal shield, and features two multipurpose weapons which function as plasma-charged swords, pulse blasters, and plasma cannons all in one. In case you’re wondering who designed these weapons to have so many functions, you can blame none other than Tobias.”_

Ken couldn’t help but laugh at this while he tried to make sense of the controls.

Fortunately, the announcer had his back. _“The Elite should mirror your arm and leg movements, provided your limbs are securely fastened into the controls. Each joystick has a trigger to fire your currently selected weapon, and a secondary trigger to swap each weapon’s current mode. There is also a switch to retract your weapons, in case you want to do that for some reason. An orange button on the side of the cabin should toggle a voice-projection module which does exactly what it sounds like. Since those are all of this machine’s useful systems, that is all for this automatic announcement. Have a fine time destroying whatever it is you hijacked this robot for.”_

Ken was chuckling to himself as he got accustomed to the controls and wondered which one of the Gods had written that announcement. It sounded like a cross between an advertisement for some kind of product and instructions for a game. However, this was far from a game. Noticing Yuki screaming hysterically as the other Elite tried to blast her into oblivion, Ken took an experimental step, only for his Elite to mirror it. Grinning, he clicked a switch on the joysticks to retract his weapons and ran at his target.

Yuki was getting really sick of running away from the giant robot trying to vaporize her, so it was a welcome change when the other Mechanoid turned around and tackled it into the ground, sending up a huge cloud of dust. As her downed opponent strained against the grip of its former teammate, there was a crackle as Ken’s voice spoke from one of the machines. “Hey, Yuki! I figured out how to use this thing. Come on, get into the other cabin before this Elite breaks free and kills you.”

“Thanks a ton, Ken!” Yuki said gratefully, wasting no time running over to the cabin and pressing switches until it opened. Recklessly grabbing the controls and shutting her cabin lid, Ken breathed a sigh of relief as the Elite stopped struggling. Its visor turned green to indicate that Yuki had successfully taken control of it.

Ken turned towards the Mechanoid carrier. Strangely enough, it seemed to have run out of robots to throw at them, and was now eerily silent. Ken suspected that it might actually be out of troops - which was excellent news. He could go tell the Aurorans to take care of it, but for now the two of them needed to get the Elites over to the true battlefield and take down the Juggernaut.

His train of thought was interrupted by a soft giggling sound coming from beside him. Looking over to his right, he vaguely saw Yuki’s silhouette hunched over and shaking from what seemed to be laughter, no doubt from the automatic announcement.

Ken sighed, but laughed as well. _Can I complain to the Gods after this?_

 

“Hyah!”

“Charge!”

The Radiant Swords hollered at the top of their lungs as they charged into the fray, piloting their newfound robots with reckless abandon. They had tried their new weapons out on the city outskirts, and needless to say the immense power the Elites boasted had made the two youth eager to test the Mechanoids on their former brethren. As the Mechanoid forces turned around in surprise, both rogue machines slammed into their ranks and began their assault.

Transforming both of his weapons into their blade configuration, Ken lunged at the nearest Enforcer and slashed, the Elite’s swords messily shearing the supposedly-armored machine into several pieces. Two Stryker M2 units approached from behind and swung their blades at him, only for him to parry the strikes and vertically bisect both opponents with single, precise strokes. Several Blazes sprayed fireballs at him while a Devourer lunged from the left, but Ken deflected the fireballs off of his shield, kicked all of the Blazes out of the way, and punched the approaching Devourer hard enough to shatter its eye. As the machine shrieked in apparent pain, Ken put an end to its suffering with a swift decapitation.

Yuki yelled as she slashed through a squadron of Octopods before clicking some switches to swap to a different weapon. Her blades divided in half, forming a vaguely forklike shape, before its prongs glowed bright green and began to unload a deadly barrage of plasma charges. Dozens of Mechanoid foot soldiers were blasted into scrap metal, and even the larger ones like the Devourers could only stand up to the energy barrage for so long before being torn to shreds.

As a cloud of Swarmers approached rapidly, the Radiant Swords stood back-to-back and began charging plasma blasts within their weapons. Right when the swarm was upon them, both Elites let loose with enormous thunderbolts of pure power which seemed to rend the very air asunder. The blasts tore through the swarm like a tornado, reducing almost all of them to ashes instantly. The few that remained attempted to fire on the Elites, only for their shots to deflect off of their barriers. Ken simply grinned as he engaged his pulse blasters again and shot them into oblivion.

“Holy crap.” Yuki breathed. “These things are absurd!”

Ken looked elated. “These Elites are stupidly powerful. I have full confidence that we can tear through any lesser Mechanoids that get in our way. As for the Juggernaut, I’m not so sure. It’d be best if we didn’t get too confident yet.”

“I know,” Yuki replied, “But it feels...really good. Those things could have easily destroyed us earlier. Now, we can tear through them like nothing. That Juggernaut seemed invincible before. But now, I feel that we can fight it and _win_.”

“That’s what I want to hear!” Ken shouted enthusiastically. “Let’s take these things and make that Juggernaut regret ever coming to this city!”

 

Joseph was getting more and more desperate with every minute the Juggernaut still stood. He had dispatched their entire military to combat the mechanical monster, but they hadn’t seemed to have inflicted any lasting damage to the damn thing. To make matters worse, the Juggernaut seemed to have regenerated its shield for the fifth time in the battle, and now all their missiles were just shattering harmlessly on the barrier. It would take another anti-armor bombardment to take that thing down.

The armored colossus’ backup came in the form of about a dozen Simians, which were large, heavily built machines with no weapons but immense strength. Anthony was firing his rifle, taking down a Simian with every two shots, but even his high-power shots weren’t enough to penetrate the Juggernaut’s barrier.

The Juggernaut roared and kicked aside another tank before unleashing a massive rocket salvo from the launchers on its back, which arced into the nearest artillery battery and razed it to the ground. Its machine guns tore up the earth as it slaughtered the remaining ground troopers that had tried to use rocket launchers against it. Noticing Anthony and Joseph desperately taking potshots from a distance, it charged straight through a building and burst out the other side amidst a cloud of rubble. Anthony ran out of power and hastily tried to reload his gun while Joseph let loose with a volley of plasma charges which did nothing to stop the beast’s advance. In a matter of seconds, the Juggernaut had crushed all the tanks standing between it and its targets, and was now looming over the two Auroran generals menacingly.

“Oh, hell.” Anthony breathed. “This ain’t good.”

Joseph sighed. “This is the end for Aurora. But we sure as hell aren’t going down without a fight.”

Raising his weapon again, Joseph stood defiant in the face of death. “If you think that we’re going down quietly, machine, think again. I will fight to my last breath, and our city will fight to the last man.”

Anthony stood valiantly beside his compatriot. “I’m with you until the bitter end.”

Both of them pointed their weapons at the Juggernaut’s head as the machine raised a fist to smash them into oblivion. The two soldiers closed their eyes and fired.

What followed next was easily the craziest thing they had ever seen in their lives.

Just as the Juggernaut was about to pound them into the next world, two giant machines suddenly leapt over them and tacked the behemoth, sending it crashing to the ground. As Joseph got up and stared in disbelief, one of the machines extended a glowing sword out of its forearm and rammed it into the Juggernaut. As the metal colossus engaged its shield, the prismatic barrier only lasted for about two seconds before being pierced by its attacker’s blade, which cut into its shoulder.

Anthony was flabbergasted. “What the hell’s going on?”

As the other machine turned towards them, a loud voice spoke from a glowing green object on its chest. “Hey, you two! It’s me, Ken! We managed to get control of these things, which are apparently called Elites. Your city isn’t getting destroyed if we have something to say about it.”

Anthony breathed out a sigh of relief. “Holy...you two are really something.”

Noticing that reinforcements had arrived and were just staring in awe, Joseph whistled to get their attention. “Soldiers! This is no time for dawdling! Go on and assist those two with the Juggernaut and other Mechanoids!”

The soldiers immediately sprung into action as a group of Simians jumped onto Ken’s Elite and began hammering at its shield relentlessly. The machine’s shield shook and groaned from the impacts, but it held firm as Ken systematically pulled them off of him and drove them straight into the ground. Another Simian jumped at him, only to get cleaved in half by a horizontal stroke from the Starry Sword.

Meanwhile, Yuki hammered at the downed Juggernaut with her blades. She seemed to be inflicting some kind of damage, but before she could determine how well she was doing, the Juggernaut grabbed her Elite and flung it into a nearby building, causing it to collapse on her.

Ken turned towards the colossus as Yuki burst out of the rubble, her Elite completely unharmed save for its shattered barrier. As Ken raised his swords, Yuki engaged her pulse blasters and opened fire, the barrage of plasma enveloping the Juggernaut in a blanket of bright explosions. The Juggernaut recoiled before engaging its own blasters and firing back at Yuki, only for her to roll out of the way and accidentally smash another building.

Before the Juggernaut could continue its assault, Ken came up from behind it and swung his right sword into the thing’s head hard enough to send it reeling. It generated its own, hard-light swords, and engaged Ken in a large-scale swordfight. Ken avoided an overhead swing from the larger machine before driving his own blades into its chest, the charged blades creating two molten incisions. As it swung again, Ken ducked to avoid getting his cockpit obliterated, only for the missed strike to chop a small store in half. Seizing the opportunity, Ken grabbed the severed top half of the store and, with difficulty, smashed it into the Juggernaut’s face hard enough to topple it. Then he realized what he had done and groaned.

“Uh...sorry for all the property damage, Joseph.”

Joseph, who had been directing his troops, just laughed. “Don’t worry about it!”

Yuki, who had finished charging two plasma blasts, saw the opportunity and fired. The bolts struck the rising Juggernaut and promptly knocked it to the ground again. As it tried to get up again, Ken lunged with his blades, only for the Juggernaut to block the strike with its forearm. As Ken gulped, the metal monster raised its other fist and punched the Elite across the block, shattering its force field instantly. Ken crashed through another building and stopped moving.

The Juggernaut, not one to waste time, immediately unloaded a salvo of rockets at the downed Ken. Noticing this, Yuki activated her pulse blasters and shot all of the ordnance out of the air, triggering a massive airborne fireball. As she breathed a sigh of relief, the Juggernaut turned towards her and attacked. Yuki ducked underneath its first punch - which pulverized an artillery battery on the building behind her - and unloaded a burst of plasma charges into its abdomen, gradually blasting away its heavy armor. Whirring in pain, the Juggernaut furiously lashed out and tackled her into the building, which promptly collapsed on both machines. Yuki grit her teeth as she felt the cabin shake from the impacts, only for the Juggernaut to become distracted by a barrage of rocket fire from the Auroran ground troops. As the Juggernaut left her to engage this new threat, Yuki slowly got up and prepared to fire the instant the chance arose.

Joseph opened fire again as about a hundred men followed in his lead. The Juggernaut was pelted from all directions by a storm of artillery and energy bolts, the crackling energy surging over its body as it began showing signs of weakening. However, the machine roared as a strange device in its chest began to glow.

Joseph had a premonition and gasped. “Get down, everyone!”

The entirety of his platoon hit the ground as the Juggernaut unleashed an enormous, searing beam of energy from its chest. As it slowly began to rotate, the laser sliced messily through all the buildings it came into contact with and practically liquefied any tanks and artillery that got in its way. When the beam subsided, over half of the Auroran defenses and buildings in the vicinity had been utterly wiped from existence.

“Aw, crap.” Joseph breathed.

Roaring back into action amidst the burning wreckage, Ken picked up an abandoned food stall and slammed it into the Juggernaut, staggering it again. Extending his blades, he slashed at the stunned machine’s torso over and over again, until he saw its armor finally begin to give in to their combined assault. Yelling with the fervor of a wild animal, Ken slashed the Juggernaut’s chest wide open, tearing a chunk of its armor off and exposing what appeared to be its core: a glowing, orange sphere suspended in its chest cavity by numerous machines and pipes.

Ken was elated. “Hey! Joseph, Yuki, and everyone else! I think I just exposed its weak point!”

“Uhh, Ken?” Yuki began slowly as the Juggernaut’s eyes changed from orange to a piercing red. “I think it’s seriously pissed off now!”

The Juggernaut emitted an ear-splitting shriek as it slammed Ken into the nearest pile of rubble and punched his Elite in the face, completely pulverizing it. Then it picked it up and swung it into the ground hard enough to create a crater, causing Ken to yell in pain as he felt some of his bones break.

Yuki, who had gotten back up, fired another pair of charged plasma blasts directly at the Juggernaut’s core, which got blocked by its forearms as the machine unleashed another searing beam from its chest. Yuki tried to get out of the way, but the laser still succeeded in melting off her Elite’s right arm. Breathing heavily, she aimed the other arm and began rapidly firing at her offender, who ran straight at her and punched her hard enough to snap her leg within the controls. Yelping in pain, Yuki engaged her sword and slashed at the Juggernaut’s core, only for the behemoth to land another brutal punch which practically scrapped her Elite. Yuki flew into a ruined condominium and screamed as the impact nearly knocked her out cold. Her Elite lay crumpled and critically damaged at the building’s base, her cabin shattered.

Ken yelled in anger as he charged yet again, attempting to drive his left blade straight into the Juggernaut’s core. The Juggernaut grabbed and crushed his left arm for his troubles, and Ken tried again with his right. This time, the blade cut a gash in the glowing orange device, and the metallic colossus roared as it extended a blade of its own and took off the Elite’s right arm at the elbow. Ken’s eyes widened as the Juggernaut moved with impossible speed, catching his Elite in the chest with a brutal swing which smashed its cockpit and send it skidding along the ground. The machine smashed through several piles of rubble before bouncing to a stop, its body wrecked and its pilot knocked unconscious.

The Juggernaut prepared another chest laser to vaporize its pesky opponent, only for a barrage of rocket fire to distract it yet again. Joseph and the other soldiers stood firm, firing whatever weapons they still had. They had witnessed Ken and Yuki trying to save their town, and were going to fight tooth and nail for someone that brave.

Yuki looked over and resisted the urge to scream. With the damage Ken’s Elite had taken, she legitimately wouldn’t be surprised if her friend had actually been killed. Yet her mind clung to what hope it had. _Ken’s stronger than this. He HAS to be alive. I can’t worry about him too much...I have a robot to destroy._

Groaning, she shakily raised her Elite’s remaining arm and prepared one last shot. The targeting system was downed, so she would have to aim this manually. Breathing heavily as she aimed, she tried not to think of how many lives were riding on that shot.

Anthony yelled as he fired over and over again to distract the Juggernaut. Joseph unloaded clip after clip of bullets, and the soldiers in the area fired every last shell and rocket they had at the Mechanoid’s core. Despite the fact that they were doing visible damage, however, the Juggernaut just _would not die._ The mechanical monster turned towards them and prepared another chest laser. All of them grit their teeth, kept on firing, and prepared for the worst.

But the worst never came.

The Juggernaut suddenly flinched as a bright green beam pierced through its core, shattering it and releasing a massive discharge of pent-up energy. As the soldiers watched in disbelief, the Juggernaut let out one last roar as it collapsed with an earth-shaking boom, its eyes going out for the first and final time.

The Aurorans slowly turned towards Yuki, who was panting heavily within her smashed cockpit. Her Elite still had one hand raised, the two prongs of her plasma cannon still crackling with lightning. The girl slowly lowered the weapon, stumbled out of the cabin, and collapsed.

“Hey, kid!” Anthony yelled as all of the remaining survivors ran over to help her. Yuki coughed uncomfortably as she rested her broken leg. Joseph ran over to her a bit late and immediately asked “Are you okay?”

“Heh...I’m...fine…” Yuki breathed. “That was scary as hell.”

“Well, you beat the Juggernaut and saved our entire damn city.” Anthony told her. “You two are heroes. You have no idea how grateful we are for that.”

Yuki smiled, before frowning again. “Wait, how’s Ken doing?”

Before any of them could object, Yuki dragged herself over to Ken’s demolished Elite, pulled out her sword, and used her regenerated magic to tear the cabin cover off its hinges. When she saw Ken, her heart nearly stopped. While he had managed to gain consciousness, his condition was bad enough that Yuki nearly puked on the spot.

Ken saw her expression and sighed. “How bad is it?”

Yuki wasn’t one to sugar-coat things. “Well, your left leg is completely crushed.”

Ken froze. Slowly, he looked down to see that his left leg had indeed been smashed by a block of rubble, which now lay on the ground. Apparently he had lost all sensation during the period of time following his reawakening, but he now began to feel a dull, throbbing pain in the crushed limb, along with a bizarre feeling of his leg’s interior being exposed to the cold air. While he couldn’t see the extent of the wound through his pants, he noticed that his leg looked flattened and that the left leg of his pants was splattered with blood. He was almost certain his leg bones had been reduced to splinters and powder.

 _Oh, Gods._ Ken silently thought. _I really don’t want to see what’s under there._

Externally, however, Ken took it pretty well. He shakily exhaled and regulated his breathing. “Uh, how am I supposed to walk now?”

“Ken, shut up. This looks really bad.” Yuki muttered, her voice deadly serious as she unsteadily picked him up like a sack of potatoes, recoiling at the squelching noise his leg made when lifted. In reality, she was terrified for his safety, but if she showed her fear Ken would surely panic. “How does it feel?”

“It doesn’t hurt a lot, but I still feel like my leg’s been turned into mush.”

“You’re bleeding a lot.” Yuki said urgently, using her magic to both stabilize his leg and apply pressure to the parts of his leg that weren’t crushed in order to halt the bleeding. “We need to get you to some kind of hospital right now.”

Joseph immediately called for a stretcher, and soon Ken was being rushed to a hospital. He sorely wanted to congratulate the two for their achievements, but he supposed that the congratulations could wait for until after they had healed.

 

The next couple of days went by surprisingly fast. Ken had fallen unconscious again when he got to the hospital, and Yuki had remained by his side for the whole night, trying to heal his leg with her magic. She honestly had no idea if that was even possible, but she put her heart and soul into it regardless. Simply imagining Ken’s leg reforming itself, Yuki forced herself to muster up complete confidence in her task’s completion - and like Magnus had said, her willpower came through.

When Ken had woken up, Yuki was sound asleep with her face planted in his hospital bed, and had somehow managed to repair his entire crushed leg. Even after using magic for several months, he was still amazed at how much it could accomplish. And another thing, he had no idea why everyone was giving him so many strange looks when he gingerly picked up his friend and tucked her into the bed next to him.

After letting Yuki rest, Joseph had insisted that they come to a commemorative ceremony that the whole city had arranged for them. After what they had done for them, the entire city viewed them not only as heroes, but as saviors. Ken and Yuki were mightily embarrassed by the whole ordeal, but took their praise with stride. After all, they had surpassed their own expectations as well.

The Radiant Swords rested in the city for another three days, during which they laughed, explored, and tried to forget the pains of the last battle. On the sunny afternoon that they finally had to say farewell, it was needless to say they were both a bit sad.

Ken experimentally stomped with his healed leg. Yuki’s magic had done an obscenely good job, but he still felt that he would be walking with a limp for a bit. Yuki’s leg seemed a lot better - well, she had only gotten her leg bone snapped, not disintegrated.

As they stood before the Auroran mayor, both of them were equally elated and disappointed - the former since their quest was nearly over, the latter since they had to leave the intriguing city they had risked their lives to protect.

“I’ve said this before, and on behalf of the city I’ll say it again. You have no idea how thankful we are for your help.” Joseph told them. “The damage done to our city can be repaired, but if you weren’t here there would be no city to repair at all.”

Both youth bowed. “Thank you, sir. We have learned a lot from your city as well.”

Anthony stepped up. “It’s only natural that we give you some kind of parting gift.”

He held out his hands, revealing a necklace-like charm nestled in each palm. The charm itself was shaped like a simple hexagon and glittered with an otherworldly light. With a jolt, they realized that it was the same glow emitted by the Prismite beach. _Those charms must be made out of the same Prismite!_

The Radiant Swords gratefully took the gifts. Proudly wearing them on their necks, each of them found it necessary to voice their opinions on them.

Ken bowed again. “Thank you so much for the gift! The glow these give off is so cool!”

Yuki bounced excitedly on the spot. “These are so cool! And pretty too!”

Bud squawked, the Griff having lazed around in a tank deployment building for the entirety of the prior couple of days. Fortunately, the Aurorans had some knowledge on how to feed him, and he was now in optimal shape for high-speed flying.

There were a number of things both parties wanted to talk about, but Joseph insisted that they leave quickly for their quest’s final phase. So, as every Auroran citizen in the city saluted the two heroes, the Radiant Swords took off into the clouds.

Joseph elbowed his compatriot. “Hey, those weren’t the charms we were supposed to give them. You do realize that those necklaces are only supposed to be given to those who are getting engaged, right?”

Anthony grinned. “That was kind of the point.”

“Excuse me?”

“Don’t worry about it.”


	8. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ironically, the events in this chapter were one of the first things that I had seen in my dream.
> 
> I was still listening to A Song for Bygone Days while writing this. I both blame and thank my friend for that.

The Radiant Swords had barely gotten ten kilometers from the city when divine intervention struck. As the voice of Tobias spoke through their headsets and requested that they stop down for a moment, the two heroes complied without question. It was only a matter of seconds before the God himself showed his face, towering above everything in existence. Yet...he looked tired and weary. It was clear that something wasn’t right with the titanic God.

“Lord Tobias, sir!” Ken said reverently as he knelt before the deity. “What brings you here to talk with us?”

Tobias smiled at his display of amicability, although it was evident that his smile was somewhat forced. “Well, first of all, I just wanted to know how you two were doing.”

“Heh, that’s awfully nice of you.” Ken said, bowing.

“Hey…” Yuki asked, ”Were you the one who wrote that announcement that the Elite gave out?”

Tobias couldn’t help but chuckle. “Oh...yeah, that. That was actually Matheus, who couldn’t miss an opportunity to call me out. I was the one who designed the machines themselves, and I couldn’t help but overcomplicate some aspects of their designs. By the way, congratulations on your victory over those Mechanoids. Needless to say, all of us were very impressed by your work.”

“We’re honored to hear that, sir.” Yuki said as she bowed, although she was still smiling over what Tobias had told them about the Elites.

The deity’s face suddenly fell. “Also...I have a bit of a confession to make.”

The Radiant Swords looked up in confusion. “Uh...what kind of confession?”

“It is one that I probably should have done long ago.” Tobias continued. “I have yet to muster the courage to say it in front of the entire planet, yet I feel like you two should be the first ones to hear it, since you’re nearing the end of your journey.”

“Enough with the dramatics, out with it!” Yuki told him. “We won’t judge you!”

“Well, the truth is that none of us are actually worthy of being called Gods.”

The Radiant Swords tilted their heads in surprise. “What?"

Tobias’ eyes hardened. “I mean what I said. We aren’t Gods. To tell you the truth, us humans are really just normal beings who happened to find your planet in space and decided to take over. I’ve already told you: you are superior to us in nearly every aspect. Yet...we still took advantage of your size and primitive state at the time to take the mantle of deities. For that...well, I am ashamed of us.”

Ken and Yuki were silent for some time.

Then, just as Tobias was about to silently take his leave, Yuki spoke. “Well...still, why aren’t you Gods? You’re huge, powerful, and smarter than any of us. You have the power to shape and guide the world as you please! A being that powerful should still be called a God, right?”

“Power alone does not make one a deity, child.” Tobias said bitterly. “Our species has its own Gods, too. They are defined as entities of supernatural power which have divine origins. As far as I am concerned, we are none of those things. In fact, you two would be more deserving of this title than me. You are far stronger and kinder than I have ever been in my entire life.”

“Don’t be too hard on yourself, sir.” Ken said reassuringly. “Even if what you say is true, and you are not true Gods, you’ve still done so much for our planet. Our society still owes you for the fact that we even exist. Believe me, we couldn’t have gotten this far with our lives without your guidance. And for that…well, I will always respect you, no matter what. And I think all of us on this planet feel the same way.”

Yuki put a hand on her chest like she was swearing an oath. “Me too. You’ve done too much to help our society for us to lose faith in you over just that.”

Tobias sighed contentedly. “You two...no, your entire species is really something to be able to forgive so easily. It makes me feel worse for what we have done to you…”

Tobias was cut off by a sudden bout of coughing that had him doubling over in pain. The echoes of his discomfort tore through the atmosphere, almost knocking the Radiant Swords over. When he recomposed himself, the two microscopic youth were looking up at him with expressions of worry.

“Uh, sir? Are you okay?” Ken asked.

“That looked kind of bad…” Yuki said uncertainly.

Tobias took a breath. “Ah, yes. It appears that I have become quite ill from some contaminant I have been exposed to. I should probably go and rest, lest I wish for it to get worse, or for your planet to be exposed to my bacteria.”

“What?”

Tobias ignored their question. “But there is one last thing I must say. You know Michael?”

Ken scratched his head. “Uh, yeah? What about him?”

“Well...to put things bluntly, we’ve kind of pissed him off up here.” Tobias said slowly. “He’s been kind of upset for the last couple of weeks, and since he’s still overseeing your quest I fear that he might try to...well, interfere. That’s our fault, and for that we apologize. However, my illness makes it so that I will not likely be able to stop him should something happen.”

Ken was visibly shaken. “Um...okay? What should we do, then?”

Tobias seemed to hold back another coughing fit before continuing. “I have no idea, to be honest. All I want you to do is remember what I told you - _we aren’t Gods_ . If Michael indeed tries to do something, I want you to know that we  _can be beaten_.

Both of their faces paled at the prospect of fighting a being larger than a planet.

Tobias covered his mouth. “I must go. I wish you good luck in the final stretch.”

And with that urgent message, he was gone.

 

Over the next few days, Ken and Yuki became overcome by an almost fervent desire to live life to the fullest. Perhaps it was what Tobias had said, or maybe it was the simple fact that they might not survive to see the end of the week. Fortunately for them, the area around Electi Terram had one of the most beautiful landscapes they had ever seen on the planet, and the Radiant Swords become determined to enjoy it.

As they flew over verdant forests and golden fields, they saw the people of Aurora launching an attack on the Mechanoid carrier. The metal fortress fought back with an array of automated defenses, but it was no match for their elite forces. Both of them smiled contently at the sight of their success, and pushed onwards.

Whenever Bud needed a rest, they would stop down and explore the pure, natural world around them. From hopping around flowing rivers and sparkling waterfalls, climbing trees in lush forests, resting in caves during rain, to simply frolicking in the sun-blessed fields, both of them ran around their world with unadulterated, childlike glee. Laughing, playing together, and enjoying the beautiful scenery with one another - all of these things helped them take their minds off of the inevitable end of their story.

Yet it was impossible not to think about what Tobias had admitted to them. The Gods were really just beings like them, except large enough to claim the status of deities? They wondered about the countless Nanos around Territe that still believed the titanic beings above to be all-powerful deities. Sure, the Gods still deserved their title despite their questionable origins, but...still. Was the fact that the Gods had came and helped them advance their species really just a random coincidence?

Both of them, however, just brushed off the thoughts. So what if the Gods weren’t actually divine entities? They earned their status among the Nanos, and certainly had enough power to back up their position. As such, they quickly forgot about what Tobias had said and continued doing what they did best: explore, play, and train for their final challenge.

 

Ken yawned, the rising sun’s rays streaming into his eyes. Taking a deep breath of the crisp morning air, he slowly got up and rubbed his eyes. A few meters away from him, Yuki hummed a cheerful melody to herself as she grilled some meat over their reignited campfire.

The memories of the past night came back to him. Ken recalled that they had just fought off a small force of Mechanoid stragglers, and had just crashed in a random location with shelter. Looking around, Ken noted that they had chosen quite a good spot. A large tree sat on a hill behind them, and in front of them was a massive lake of crystal-clear water.

Ken walked up to his friend. “Hey there, Yuki. Sleep well?”

Yuki nodded. “Sure did. I assume you did too?”

“Yeah.” Ken replied. “How long have you been up for?”

“Don’t fret, Ken. I’ve only been up for ten minutes.” Yuki told him. “You didn’t sleep that late, I can assure you. Take some food, we skipped dinner yesterday. I’m off to go wash my hands in that lake over there.”

Ken just sighed contentedly as Yuki sauntered off. It was a humid, cloudless day, and the rising sun blazed down on the rolling hills that stood before him. Squinting into the distance, he noticed that the grand temple of Electi Terram was close enough to see clearly. The structure was old-looking, made of brownish stone, and seemed to be surrounded by a great deal of fields and forests. While Ken couldn’t make out every last detail of Electi Terram, the mere sight of it sent a clear message: they were nearing their final destination and last challenge. This was the beginning of the end.

Suddenly, a bloodcurling shriek echoed through the area, nearly causing Ken’s blood to freeze when he recognized that it had belonged to Yuki. Ken instinctively unsheathed his sword and dashed towards the edge of the lake where she had last been heading.

Skidding to a stop, Ken raised his blade, its edge crackling with raw power. However, he was unable to recognize any threats in the area. On the lake shore before him, Yuki lay curled up into a ball, grasping her left hand in agony.  As Ken ran over to her, she whimpered and turned around, exposing the extent of her injury.

Ken’s heart nearly stopped.

Yuki’s left hand had been completely melted off.

The Starry Sword couldn’t believe his eyes, but here Yuki was, her left hand reduced to a sizzling stump. Ken could see all the internal workings of her wrist: bones, tendons, and severed blood vessels that were spewing out a frightening amount of blood. Ken couldn’t help himself and threw up on the spot, only for Yuki to follow suit.

“By the Gods…” Ken breathed unsteadily, “What the hell happened to you?”

Yuki plucked up the strength to speak to her friend. “That lake...that’s no ordinary water. I tried to wash my hands in it and...well...”

Ken slowly turned towards the lake. Experimentally, he picked up a small stone and tossed it into the lake, only to step back in surprise as the stone instantly disintegrated. Suddenly the lake’s unnatural lack of color made sense to him. That stuff wasn’t water. The lake was made out of some sort of acid.

Yuki yelped in pain again, and Ken turned back towards her. Grabbing her wrist with both hands despite the blood spewing everywhere, he began to apply pressure in an attempt to stop the bleeding. His eyes glowing, Ken began using his magic to slow the flow of blood to the wound. Yuki, seeing what he was doing, followed suit.

“Do you think you can heal it?” Ken asked concernedly.

“Maybe.” was the shaky reply. “I healed your leg, after all.”

After getting Yuki some actual, non-deadly water, Ken began pouring his magic into Yuki’s missing hand, willing it to grow back. In his heart, he doubted if even magic would be capable of performing such a feat, but he pushed those doubts to the back of his mind. Next to him, Yuki’s eyes shone as she attempted the same thing.

Slowly but surely, Yuki’s hand began to grow back. The two youth saw the entire process in disgusting detail: bones and blood vessels regrowing, tendons reattatching themselves, and muscles wrapping around each other to form the shape of a hand once more. After about ten minutes, Yuki’s skin layer finally regenerated as the two of them breathed a heavy sigh.

“That was close.” Ken muttered. _Yuki must have been really brave to watch my leg healing for the whole night. That was...pretty gross._

Yuki opened and closed her hand experimentally. “Doesn’t feel too bad for something that we just grew out of nowhere. It’s a bit tingly and numb at the same time, if that makes sense.”

“Well, you got your hand back, but you lost a lot of blood.” Ken told her. “Get some food, water, rest, whatever you need. We can rest here for as long as you need to recover.”

“Thanks a ton, Ken.” Yuki told him. “But...well, why do you think this stupid acid lake even exists? Why is there an acid lake on this planet?”

Ken was about to open his mouth, but both of them felt a presence above them as Michael decided to take this precise moment to check up on them.

“Hey, kiddos.” Michael boomed from above, once again neglecting to use their microphones. “How’re you doing?”

“Not good, since I just lost my hand and had to regrow it.” Yuki said darkly.

“Michael, sir? Can you explain why this acid lake is here?” Ken asked hotly.

Michael’s eyes widened for a moment. “Oh, that? Well, it’s kind of a long story. Believe it or not, there used to be a town there. Lots of people, decent lifestyle, all that good stuff. Then some crazy guys had an idea that us Gods weren’t so good. Said that we controlled their lives and didn’t deserve their reverence. The idea spread through the town, and next thing you know the whole town hates us and plans to spread their “gospel” to their neighbors. I suppose their claims aren’t completely unjustified, but I could not allow such disrespectful behavior.”

“...And?”

Michael shrugged. “Well...I suppose I went a bit overboard. Put a drop of a certain concoction I made on that town. Next thing you know, the town is gone and this lake showed up. I will admit that this was a bit overkill. That toxin you see over there is only acidic to beings and objects as miniscule as you, but its toxicity is off the charts. Hell, I’d reckon that not even I could survive that if it got into my system. But...well, I don’t really believe in overkill, and I have near-zero tolerance for insolence from you specks down there.”

Silence from the Radiant Swords.

Michael looked a bit confused. “What is it?”

Both youth suddenly felt a strange feeling begin rising in their hearts. It was an oddly familiar yet unknown feeling, like a fire spreading from their souls to the rest of their bodies. As their expressions hardened and the burning finally reached their minds, they realized what the emotion they were feeling was.

_Anger._

The Radiant Swords never had a reason to feel anger towards any other Nano. Nobody on the planet had ever bothered them to that point. They _had_ felt anger before, but only towards Mechanoids. But now, for the first time in their lives, the Radiant Swords felt legitimate anger towards another living being - and he wasn’t even of their planet.

“...Why?”

Michael frowned. “Why what?”

“Why would you do that?” Ken suddenly yelled, his eyes bursting into azure light. “What you did to that town was cruel and completely unnecessary! You killed thousands and permanently scarred the land with this acid lake - and for what?”

Yuki couldn’t hold back her emotions any longer as her eyes flickered with an unstable radiance. “Every being on this planet has a right to think about whatever they want! Normally, anything “wrong” could be justified. But not here! You just killed all those innocents because of your personal whims! Why would you...no, why would _anyone_ do something like that?”

Michael was looking a bit ticked off. “I already told you - I don’t tolerate insolence. Those bacteria got what was coming to them. They knew what kind of a mess they were getting into when they disrespected a God.”

Yuki practically exploded. “What? So you’re saying that just because someone doesn’t like you, you can just...erase them like that? Is this the so-called “power of a god” you mentioned earlier? That is horrible! This is stretching it a bit, but... _you_ are horrible!”

Michael’s expression darkened. “First of all, it _is_ indeed the power of a God to exert their will upon this world. Second of all...I’m already kind of pissed off, and you’re getting on my nerves. It would be wise for you to remember who you’re speaking to.”

Yuki stepped forward again, but Ken put a hand on her shoulder. It didn’t take a genius to deduce that they were in extremely perilous waters now.

Yuki breathed heavily and calmed herself, her eyes returning to normal.

Michael took a deep breath, unintentionally ruffling the Radiant Swords’ hair. “Hmph. That’s what I thought. Know that you do indeed have the freedom to do whatever you want in your little world there...provided you accept the consequences. Best of luck on your adventure, pipsqueaks.”

Michael left with an almost mocking smile, leaving the Radiant Swords with a harsh answer to their questions and the fatigue that came with anger’s echoes.

 

“Wow…”

“This is...beautiful.”

These were the first words spoken by the Radiant Swords as they stepped foot onto Electi Terram. The Chosen Land was a magnificent array of fields and orchards, brimming with color, livestock and crops. It resembled a massive farm, far bigger than any other farm they had seen in their lives and possessing food that neither of them had even heard of. In front of them loomed the massive cathedral that served as their last test.

“Why are there so many crops here?” Ken asked.

“Hey, the guardian of the temple needs to eat too!” Yuki said, picking a random fruit from a nearby bush and eating it without checking what it was first.

Ken sighed as he realized how obvious that was.

The two of them ate a light lunch underneath another fruit tree. Thinking about their conversation with Michael a few days prior, they recalled what Tobias had told them. With a mentality like that, they wouldn’t be surprised if Michael actually tried to attack them if they annoyed him enough. But what could they do in case that happened? He was larger than their entire planet. It wasn’t like a sword would do anything to him.

But they pushed that aside again. They had a quest to finish.

After lunch, they packed up their things and marched straight to the cathedral. Staring at the entrance looming over them, they had a nagging feeling that Bud was going to do nothing but get hurt should they bring him in. So, they tied him to a nearby tree and gave him a bucket of snacks to keep him occupied as they slowly walked into the temple, ready to end their quest once and for all.

The interior was massive, and...rather bland, really. Save for a couple of abstract designs etched into the walls and statues of armored warriors, there was really nothing remarkable inside the temple. Massive windows and several holes in the ceiling - almost definitely from the temple’s age - let in rays of sunlight. Yuki hugged the walls, trying to decipher some of the runes on the walls, while Ken kept an eye out for threats.

As they reached the main room - a huge chamber with a stone chair resembling a throne on one end - Ken urgently stopped and signaled for Yuki to follow suit. There was a hooded figure seated on the chair - almost certainly the guardian. As both youth stood alert and prepared for a fight, the figure got up and removed their hood.

Standing before them was a girl who couldn’t have been older than Ken. She had dull silver hair about the same length as Yuki’s, and wore brown boots and light armor like themselves - but the similarities ended there. She wore a grey cloak over a white shirt and black leggings, compared to the heroes’ navy shirts and beige cargo pants.

In her hand was the most complex-looking sword the two of them had ever seen. The weapon was fairly large, with a cross-guard shaped vaguely like a four-pointed star and a double-edged blade with some kind of crystalline material implanted in a large groove that ran along its center. As the crystals seemed to sparkle and glow, both of them began suspecting that that weapon might actually be magical in nature.

But there was one thing about the guardian that stood out to them the most.

 _Her eyes_.

As far as they knew, every person’s eyes had a certain “light” to them - while the eyes of magic-users had a tendency to _literally_ glow under certain circumstances, even those without magic gave off an impression with their eyes. Ken and Yuki had an energetic, full light in their eyes...at least to each other. Magnus had an archaic, wise glare in his eyes, Sophia’s eyes had a mysterious brightness, and Joseph possessed a commanding glow that inspired respect, to name a few.

But this girl? Her eyes were grey and completely dull, as if they had all the light sucked out of them and were now absorbing light instead of giving it off. The Radiant Swords were certain that everyone on their planet possessed that light from birth, but the person who stood before them seemed to have lost it a long time ago. If the eyes were windows to the soul, this girl’s eyes looked like windows that had been smashed to pieces before being hastily stuck back together.

The guardian of the temple slowly walked towards them, her footsteps echoing in the open space. The Radiant Swords casually put their hands on their sword hilts in case of a sudden attack. However, that wasn’t the case this time, as the girl planted her sword in the floor and halted barely two meters in front of them them.

Silence as the two of them stared down the guardian.

Then the guardian cleared her throat and spoke. “Hm. It has been a while since I have seen anyone come here. In that case, welcome. My name is Mitama, and I am the chosen guardian of Electi Terram.”

Mitama stepped back and bowed to them.

Surprised that the guardian had similar etiquette to their own, the two of them returned the bow. “Greetings, Mitama.” Yuki began. “I am Yuki no Hikari, and this is my friend and quest partner Ken Hoshizora. We come here to finish our quest once and for all.”

“Japanese names too, huh?” Mitama mused. “That’s a first. The others I met over the last four years had names much unlike mine. I assume you must have came from a village very much like my own.”

“Perhaps.” Yuki continued. “We have come from far away and overcome countless hardships. Now we are here, and we ask that you tell us how to complete our quest.”

Mitama was silent. She scanned the two quest-bearers, noticing the blind determination in their eyes. Then, she spoke. “You don’t have an idea of what’s really happening here, do you?”

“W-what?” Yuki asked incredulously.

“Can you elaborate on that, please?” Ken asked.

Mitama sighed. “Since you aren’t attacking me immediately like the last bunch, I suppose I can tell you the truth. First, let me ask you: have you ever wondered why this quest even exists, or simply about the nature of the beings we call Gods?”

“As a matter of fact, we have. Many times.” Ken told her.

The guardian nodded. “Well, I’m going to just tell you now. It’s all an experiment.”

Ken tilted his head. “Pardon?”

Mitama’s eyes darkened again, if that was possible. “Your lives, my life, the lives of all of those on the planet. The Mechanoid attacks, the quest, even the very shaping of our world and society. Every last one of these, and many more, were all experiments to sate the curiosity of beings far beyond our comprehension.”

Yuki’s eyes widened. “Wait, don’t tell me…”

“The Gods are not divine entities.” Mitama continued. “They are simply members of an advanced, titanic species called Humankind. One fateful day, they found our planet floating through space, and it intrigued them. They desired knowledge about us, so they took our planet into their space station and used their size and advanced knowledge to claim the mantle of deities. Over time, they gave us their knowledge so that we could grow as a species - all so they could see how we would react to it. All the things the Gods have done for our planet: give us knowledge, hold back knowledge, test us with the Mechanoids, give us blessings, give us curses - all of that was so they could experiment on us and see how we would cope. There were some things that they would even do for their own interests, such as terraforming the land and naming entire families and locations, just so they could see the worlds of their imaginations be born. Such were the privileges of those powerful and huge enough to take command of an entire planet.”

Ken’s face was that of a stone mask. “And the quest?”

“While they would provide stimuli to assess reactions, they desired knowledge about our species itself. And for that, they needed test subjects.” Mitama said quietly. “At some point in time, it was decided that every year, two randomly selected individuals would have to go on a quest to this exact temple, which the Gods built. While they did this, the Gods would throw various hardships and challenges at them to observe the strength and will of our species. And when they got there...they had to undertake their final challenge, which was to defeat a chosen guardian. For the first quest-bearers, the guardian was simply an extremely advanced Mechanoid. But those two soon learned the truth…”

“What is it?” Yuki whispered fearfully. “What did they learn?”

Mitama took a deep breath, then sighed. “I’m going to put it bluntly. One of them was taken by the Gods as a test subject for their experiments. The other was left in Electi Terram and bound with the duty of being the next guardian. And the cycle went on.”

The Radiant Swords were stunned, to say the least. Their entire existence being a mere experiment to entities from above who just wanted to study them? And the quest was just an overly complicated way of getting test subjects? That was something they wouldn’t have normally believed...but as they thought about it, what Mitama had just said made perfect sense in context. Everything the Gods had done...was it really just to serve their own interests?”

“...Wow.” Yuki mumbled quietly. “I always knew we were basically nothing next to the Gods, but...huh. We’re really _that_ insignificant?”

Ken put his hands on his temples. “So we’re just an experiment to the Gods...huh. That’s kind of depressing. But...there’s something that doesn’t make sense. Why couldn’t they just take us instead of making us go on this long quest?”

Mitama seemed to think about it. “I don’t know, to be honest. Perhaps it was whatever morals they follow. Perhaps it was merely for their own amusement. Perhaps they really needed the data from the quest-bearers. Perhaps they only wanted the strongest as their test subjects. There are many possibilities.”

Yuki took a deep breath, then exhaled shakily. “...Okay. But Mitama...doesn’t that mean that _you_ went through all of this as well?”

Mitama sighed. “Unfortunately, I have.”

“If it’s not too much, then...can we hear about it?” Yuki asked hesitantly.

The guardian seemed to raise a mental barrier before dissolving it instantly. “Very well. I was from a happy family quite far away from here. My father was a blacksmith, and my mother was a Magnum mage. From both of them, I learned both the art of smithing and the power of the magical arts. We were a pious family, always praying to the Gods before meals and visiting our village shrine every week. Yet one day, fate still chose us to take on the quest.”

“Us?”

“Yes, us. The Gods usually choose two people who have some kind of relationship with each other, be it positive or negative. This is so they can study the interactions between them when forced into certain situations. In this case, my selected partner was none other than my younger sister, Hibiki. She was...well, at home she was difficult to manage. Possessing endless energy, overflowing curiosity, and an unrelenting desire to help others, she would run all over the place and annoy me to no end. Yet she loved everyone for simply existing, and gave her unconditional care to anyone in need. As such, she was the sweetest little sister I could ever have, and I loved her more than anything else in the world.”

The Radiant Swords shuddered as they anticipated what was to come.

Mitama went on. “So we went on the quest. Through our travels, we became incredibly proficient fighters. I became a swordfighter who was also adept in the magical arts, while Hibiki became an incredibly proficient mage. Through ups and downs, we managed to plow our way through any challenges that came between us and what we thought was the goal the Gods had entrusted us with.”

Mitama choked on her next words. “However, it all ended on one fateful day, four years ago.”

The girl stood up and grabbed her sword. The crystals in the blade glowed blue as she traced a square in the space before her, which started glowing brightly. “I have practiced this type of magic, which allows me to project memories from my mind into reality. Perhaps it would be more beneficial...if you saw what happened for yourself.”

 

_Two young children marched into the final room of Electi Terram’s cathedral. One was clearly a younger Mitama, yet her eyes weren’t like what they were now. This Mitama’s eyes shone with a determined light._

_Beside her was a younger girl that must have been her sister, Hibiki. The child wore an outfit identical to her sister, but had short, bright silver hair as opposed to Mitama’s longer, darker silver hair. Her misty blue eyes gleamed with curiosity and glee, and despite her incredibly young age, she radiated incredible power._

_Standing before them was a tall, muscular man decked in full plate armor and wielding a large battle axe. The memory seemed incapable of providing sound, but judging from their mouth movements the three of them only exchanged a few words before drawing their weapons and engaging in combat._

_The man fought with incredibly fast, single strikes as Mitama dashed around the room, avoiding his attacks while slashing using her blade. From the backlines, Hibiki waved what appeared to be a wand, materializing countless glowing blades of light before throwing them at their opponent to pin them down. Mitama slashed furiously, and the man countered her strikes with his axe. Hibiki fired wave after wave of magic, seemingly unfazed by the amount of power she was discharging._

_After about fifteen minutes of nonstop, furious combat, the guardian of the temple began to tire. Hibiki took the opportunity to fire a bright beam at him, immobilizing him just as he raised his axe for another strike. Mitama immediately rushed in and disarmed him with a decisive stroke, before knocking him out cold with her sword hilt._

_As the two youth stood over their downed opponent, it became evident that they didn’t want to kill him. However, before they could do anything, a blue pillar of light descended from the sky and whisked the man off to who-knows-where._

_As the face of the God Matheus appeared and began speaking, it was all but obvious that he was telling the duo the truth about the quest. Mitama’s face went from confusion, to shock, to abject horror and disbelief within a matter of one minute. Hibiki’s expression quickly changed from one of flabbergasted shock to one of steely determination._

_At this point, Matheus must have asked them which one of them wanted to stay and which one of them wanted to be a test subject. Hibiki immediately immobilized Mitama with a magic burst and stepped forward, placing her hand on her chest as if swearing an oath. As Mitama strained against her magical bonds and screamed amidst sobs, Hibiki simply smiled back at her sister and said her farewells before bowing. Although she seemed to be hiding her true feelings, Hibiki could not stop a single tear from rolling down her face._

_When the beam came to take her to the other world, Mitama screamed a single word: one that could be distinguished easily despite the lack of sound._

_“HIBIKI!”_

 

The memory ended, and the three of them were left alone in the cathedral again.

Mitama breathed heavily, as if simply reliving the memory had drained her. Ken had his head hung low, and Yuki had nearly been reduced to tears.

Silence for a few seconds.

Then, Ken spoke up. “Mitama...I’m so sorry.”

Yuki sniffled. “Nobody should ever have to go through that.”

Mitama simply nodded. “I appreciate your sentiments, but I have run out of tears a long time ago. As for you, miss Hikari, you are right. Nobody should have to go through that. Which is why…” she trailed off as she grasped her sword. “...I must kill you here.”

Both of them blanched. “What?”

Mitama pointed her sword at them. “During my time as the guardian, only two pairs of quest-bearers made it here. They wanted to hear the truth, so I told them. Then I killed them as swiftly as possible. Compared to the prospect of having one close to you torn away from you by forces beyond your control, death is a mercy. By doing this, I am also sparing the one who sacrifices themselves a lifetime of experimentation and torment.”

Ken pondered that. Experimentation really sounded painful, and the pain of losing one dear to him was something he couldn’t even begin to imagine. But...was death really the only alternative to this fate?

Yuki nodded, but grasped her sword. “You make a fair point, Mitama. But don’t expect us to just roll over and die. Regardless of what the Gods have done to us...we still have a duty to carry out. And that duty is to defeat you.”

Mitama nodded. “I understand your feeling of being duty-bound. Despite everything the Gods have done, it is not in our species’ nature to hold grudges. Even I, who have been so wronged by humankind, am still obligated to carry out my duties as guardian regardless. I will not soon forgive them for what they took from me, but I cannot bring myself to feel real anger towards them either. Yet this is something I must do. If I win, I will spare you two an unimaginable pain. If I lose...well, I have nothing left to do but die honorably.” She trailed off. “It is a shame, really. In another time, I feel we could have become good friends. Now, we must face each other on the battlefield.”

The Radiant Swords drew their blades, weapons crackling with power and eyes glowing with light. Mitama readied her sword, its crystals blazing with a blinding glare. Before anything else, though, the fighters stopped and bowed to one another.

The final battle had begun.

 

Joseph, along with the rest of his city, knelt reverently before the newcomer. “I have wanted to meet you ever since I became aware of your existence. Our city owes you and your machine here a great deal.”

Standing on the fingertip of Unit Alpha, Sophia shuffled nervously as the entire city gave her their undivided attention. Unit Omega had ended up getting distracted by something else along the way to Electi Terram, so she decided to pay the city of Aurora a visit, since giving them some of her divine knowledge was one of the few things she remembered doing during her solitary life. After asking the Gods about it, Michael had allowed her to meet them, on the condition that she did not step foot off Alpha. So she had opted for the next best option: having Alpha lay its hand down on the ground so that the keeper of knowledge could speak to the citizens of Aurora.

As Joseph eagerly waited for a response, Sophia began to sweat. Talking to two youth her age for the first time in ten years was one thing. Talking to an entire city of several thousand people, all of whom looked up to her as some kind of hero? That was a different story altogether. Her countless hours of solitary practice were evidently not helping her in a real situation like this.

Yet seeing how much the citizens of Aurora wanted a response from her, she steeled up her nerves and spoke. “Uh...i-it was...nothing. I-I was just...following orders. Orders given to me...by the Gods.”

Joseph raised an eyebrow. “Well, you’ve become a bit of a legend here regardless. So tell me, miss, why have you come here again?”

“Please, just...call me Sophia.” the girl said quietly. “As for why I’m here, I recently had...an encounter with two youth. They taught me...what it was like to have company. I wanted to experience that feeling again. Besides those two, I haven’t talked to any other people in...almost ten years.”

“Ten years?” Anthony repeated. “That’s rough. If you really want, you can come down and live with us in Aurora.”

“That is a kind offer. However, the Gods have...forbidden me from leaving this machine.” Sophia said sadly. “Yet I still wanted to...communicate with the world around me. So, I decided to come here, since...I remember this place more clearly than the others. And, it’s closer to...my destination.”

Anthony stepped forward. “Also...were those two youth named Ken and Yuki?”

Sophia’s piercing blue eyes widened in mild surprise. “As a matter of fact, they were.”

“Well, we just had the good fortune of having them pass through here.” Joseph told her. “Those two are incredible fighters. They helped us get rid of a Juggernaut that threatened to end this entire town.”

“A Juggernaut…” Sophia mused. “Incredibly powerful Mechanoid built solely for brute-force combat. Armed with pulse cannons, a high-powered laser, missile pods, and incredible strength. Weak point is a core within chest, most easily accessible from slightly thinner armor plates directly in the center of its chest.” She nodded. “Good job on taking that thing down.”

“What...did you just say?” Anthony breathed.

Sophia bowed for some unknown reason. “I have access to...incredible amounts of knowledge. About nearly every aspect of our world. If you wish, you...may ask me whatever you want. I will try to...answer your questions to the best of my ability.”

The Aurorans immediately started asking away. Sophia answered all of their questions with surprising ease. She had worried that she might be judged for her lack of social experience, but nobody seemed to care.

This went on for about an hour, until Joseph decided to give her some space again. "You said you had a destination in mind. We’re sorry if we interrupted your mission. But...well, where are you going?”

Sophia’s expression hardened. “I have recently...learned how to manually control the white titan. I...lost a fight with Omega, and while Alpha healed I managed to get the hang of its controls. Those automatic instructions really helped. But the point is, I’ve deduced that Omega is...attempting to go after Ken and Yuki. Those two were the first ones to really befriend me and talk to me. As such, I want to help them avoid their deaths at the hands of the black titan.”

Joseph’s eyes widened. “Really now? Because if so, you better hurry. Those two left for Electi Terram just a couple days ago.”

Sophia gasped. “Really? Then...well, I must go. I’m sorry I couldn’t stay for longer. Perhaps if we...all get through this ordeal, I will visit again.”

And with that, Alpha abruptly got back up and faded back into invisibility.

Anthony stood there, stunned. “That did just happen, right?”

“Apparently so, Anthony.” Joseph muttered in disbelief. “Apparently so.”

 

Mitama made the first move, lunging at Ken so fast that she was practically invisible. The Starry Sword yelped and pulled back into a defensive position, parrying the attack that could have ended his life right then and there. Mitama pressed forward with a rapid series of slashes which Ken barely parried. Yuki leapt at her from behind, but she offhandedly blocked her strike before lunging at Ken again. Ken managed to block the lunge yet again, but the impact sent him skidding back several meters.

Yuki swung her katana in a wide arc, firing several multicolored razorblades that homed on on her opponent. Mitama raised her sword and projected a blue, hexagonal barrier which caused the projectiles to shatter on impact. As Yuki fired a burst of lightning, Mitama blocked it with another barrier before launching a massive fireball at her. The Light of Courage projected a barrier to block it, only for the shield to splinter and crack violently after absorbing the attack.

Ken roared into action again, charging in with his blade on fire. Mitama dodged his first slash, and Ken wasted no time unleashing a large wave of flames at their opponent. Mitama’s blade glowed bright green as she whipped up an intense gale that scattered the flaming blast and sent Ken flying.

Yuki lunged at her again while Ken got back up and charged from the left. Mitama blocked Yuki’s strike with another hexagonal barrier before parrying Ken’s attacks. Ken’s eyes flared to life as his blade glowed with an intense light, and Mitama just barely managed to put up another barrier before the strike connected. The impact sent the guardian flying into an old statue, which collapsed on her.

The Radiant Swords were about to check if they had accidentally killed her when Mitama burst out of the rubble in a shower of dust and multicolored sparks. Waving her sword, she created several hexagonal runes in the air, which began firing waves of lasers at the duo. Yuki blocked them with a barrier while Ken deflected them off his blade, but Mitama wasn’t one to waste time. Swinging her sword in a wide arc, she fired off a wave of thunderbolts that tore up the ground, breaking Yuki’s shield and sending Ken flying into a pillar.

As Ken groaned in pain, he got to his feet and lunged again...or, that’s what he would have done if his left leg didn’t suddenly erupt into intense pain. He yelped in pain and collapsed on the ground, cradling his leg while trying to raise his weapon again.

Yuki looked over. “Ken!”

Mitama instantly charged her blade with magic and lunged with impossible speed. Yuki leapt into her path and intercepted the strike with her own sword. As the two fighters strained against each other’s power, sparks flew from their blades as their magic escaped into the air.

“Why do you persist?” Mitama asked. “I am trying to spare you!”

“Because...I made a promise.” Yuki groaned, her eyes blazing with light. “We promised that we would expend every last bit of effort in order to get a happy ending. I promised Ken that I would stick by him until the very end. I’m sorry, but you are the last obstacle in our path - and we’re going to fight to our last breaths to beat you!”

“But the happy ending you seek does not exist!”

“I don’t care.” Ken said as he jumped back into the fray, slamming Mitama’s blade aside and freeing his friend from her blade lock. He had managed to get back up and temporarily reinforce his leg with what amounted to a magical bracing. “Me and Yuki will face whatever comes next. But like she said, we made a promise to try our best. So that’s what we’ll do.”

Mitama readied another magical burst. _Ah...I see. Those two are bound by their sense of duty to the Gods…but they’re not dedicated to their quest the most. Whether they know it or not, perhaps the thing that drives them forward is their dedication to each other._

She fired a crimson energy blast. _Yet...I can’t let them suffer the same fate as I did! Especially with how much they seem to care about each other!_

Yuki unleashed countless green crescents of light that arced towards her foe. Mitama sliced them out of the air using several magically-charged slashes before turning towards Ken, who hurtled towards her with a downward slash. Sidestepping, she swung sideways at her attacker, who hastily blocked the attack with a barrier before unleashing a burst of golden light that staggered the guardian. Ken lunged, and Mitama projected a hexagonal field to repel him before slashing at an incoming Yuki. Their blades clashed yet again, but Yuki yelped as her left hand slackened and became overcome with a burning pain, weakening her grip. This time Mitama forced an electrical shock down her opponent’s sword, shocking her. While Yuki was dazed, Mitama slashed, shattering her opponent’s barrier yet again as she skidded across the floor.

Yuki groaned, shakily getting to her feet. She tried to raise her sword again, but it was unlikely that she could use another two-handed strike after this.

Mitama was about to go in for the kill when Ken yelled and dropped in from above, having apparently used magic to launch himself skywards. Mitama blocked the strike with a barrier, but the strength of Ken’s attack caused the ground around them to rupture. Mitama strained against his magically-charged attack, but Ken’s broadsword slowly powered through the barrier. The instant it shattered, Ken immediately slashed at Mitama’s blade, nearly knocking her over. Unfortunately, he landed on his bad leg and collapsed to his knees again, panting and trying to block out the pain that ensued despite his magic having taken the brunt of the impact.

Mitama jumped back and panted. As the Radiant Swords stood beside each other and raised their weapons, Mitama groaned and readied her own sword.

Yet at that moment, she remembered something that Michael had told her once, during her years as the guardian. _“You have the freedom to do whatever you want, as long as you are aware of the consequences your actions will cause.”_

Ken and Yuki were perfectly aware of the consequences their actions would cause. After all, Mitama had told them. And...well, if they were willing to accept the pain that came with their quest’s completion, then who was she to stop them?

The Radiant Swords launched a combination attack, dashing around and using both physical and magical attacks to keep Mitama on the defensive. The guardian blocked their attacks with her impressive swordsmanship, but it became evident that Mitama was tiring. As Ken unleashed another blade combo, he seemed to notice something about Mitama. It was almost as if her will to fight had been extinguished somewhat.

Mitama lunged, and Ken sidestepped before swinging his sword down at her. She projected another barrier, but Yuki materialized several arrows of crimson light that tore right through it. Yelling in defiance, Mitama’s blade glowed as she charged into the two of them with an almost suicidal recklessness.

The two of them engaged their opponent in a nonstop melee brawl. With every slash, their blades discharged magical bursts that slowly began demolishing the area around them. Ken slashed, his broadsword firing a violet crescent that Mitama ducked under. The guardian immediately raised her own sword and fired a blue laser, which missed Ken and blasted another statue to rubble. Yuki leapt in and knocked Mitama’s blade aside before she could vaporize Ken’s head with another bolt, unleashing an electric burst of her own. Mitama avoided the shock, but was forced to block one of Ken’s strikes head-on. The impact produced a burst of magical sparks that scattered around the guardian as Mitama herself skid back yet another few meters.

Ken’s eyes flickered, and it became evident that his magic was reaching its limits. Noticing that, Yuki put a shield around him as she slashed at Mitama again. Her attack was blocked, but she immediately went in with a whirlwind of carefully placed strikes that Mitama visibly struggled to completely block, forcing herself to ignore the building pain in her left hand. Ken ran back in and slashed again, forcing Mitama into a blade lock. The two swordfighters grit their teeth and tried to overpower each other.

Getting a sudden idea, Yuki decided to take a page out of Mitama’s book. While the guardian was straining under the power of the Starry Sword, she shoved Ken aside and slashed at Mitama’s sword, augmenting her strike with an electrical surge. While she screamed as her wounded hand took the brunt of the impact, her idea worked. Sure enough, the sudden shock staggered the guardian, allowing Ken to swoop in and knock the blade out of her hands with a single, decisive stroke. As the blade clattered to the floor several meters away, Ken slammed Mitama in her chestplate with the flat of his blade, knocking the wind out of her and sending her skidding along the floor. About a second later, Mitama found herself at the mercy of the Radiant Swords, Yuki’s blade a mere ten centimeters from her neck.

Ken and Yuki panted heavily. Mitama took shaky, wheezing breaths.

Slowly, the Radiant Swords realized what they had just done. They won. They had bested the impossible quest. Upon realizing that, both of them collapsed on their knees from exhaustion and pain, overcome with a feeling of triumph.

“We...won…” Yuki muttered in between breaths. “We beat the quest…”

Ken managed a smile. “Heh...yeah. Good job...Yuki. We did it. We challenged our fate, and we won...I’m so, so relieved.”

For someone who had just lost a duel that was supposedly to the death, Mitama seemed rather unconcerned. “Indeed, you have won. You have proved the strength of your will. I believe that you are fully prepared to face whatever comes next...and for your sake, I wish both of you luck. However, there is one last thing I must ask of you.”

“...What is it?” both of them said in unison.

Mitama’s dull eyes bored into their own. “I request that you end me now.”

Both of their eyes widened as they instinctively sheathed their blades. “What?”

“The human researchers above don’t discriminate. If I an defeated but not dead, they will not hesitate to take me as well. You saw what happened to the guardian we tried to spare. I want you to save me from that fate.”

Silence from the two friends.

Mitama coughed uncomfortably. “Do not worry. This will not be on your consciences. Think of it as doing me a favor - I...don’t want to kill myself. I tire of this duty, and I would rather die than be used as a test subject. And if I die...well, at least I’ll be with my sister again, right?”

Ken and Yuki considered this. On one hand, perhaps killing Mitama was truly a mercy after the hell she’d been put through over the last four years. She had asked for their help, after all, and it was their duty to help anyone in need.

On the other hand, of course, they would have to _kill Mitama_. Even if it had been requested by the person in question, neither of them could even fathom the concept of killing another Nano.

However, turns out that neither of them needed to make a decision.

As the clouds parted, an all-encompassing and familiar voice tore through the atmosphere with a single, casual word: “Hey.”

The Radiant Swords flinched and looked straight up.

Mitama paled. “Oh, no. It’s time.”

Through the holes in the cathedral ceiling, the face of the God...no, _human_ named Michael filled up the sky once more. “That was some really nice fighting down there, you two. Mitama here is really damn powerful, but you were strong enough to beat her. Yet...everything must come to an end, huh?”

Michael seemed to focus on them through some kind of floating projections in front of his eye. “I believe that Mitama’s given you the run-down on the quest?”

The Radiant Swords nodded grimly.

“So you two know what happens next.”

The Radiant Swords nodded, with growing dread in their hearts.

Michael nodded. “Okay, then. It is time.” He spread his arms. “Alright, you two, make a decision. One of you will remain here and take up Mitama’s duties as a guardian chosen by the Gods. One of you will become a sacrifice for our cause. Choose carefully, but make it quick - I don’t have all day.”

The Radiant Swords gripped their sword hilts tightly as Michael smiled with fake reassurance and total confidence.

“So...who will it be?”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had been dying to introduce Mitama ever since I came up with her concept, especially since her name is really cool to me. But I will admit that I wasn't completely satisfied with how I had written her fight scene with the MCs.


	9. Chapter 8

The wind blew ominously around the Radiant Swords as they stood frozen in place, their emotions and thoughts swirling in a tumultuous storm. They knew that with the path they were taking, this was bound to happen. Yet they were still completely swept off their feet by it.

Mitama stared at them with a mixture of fear and pity. Michael looked down upon them with an expression of patience. The Radiant Swords simply stared into space before turning to face one another.

The two youth spoke as one. “Don’t you dare sacrifice yourself.”

It was clear that neither of them were willing to let the other take the fall for them. As such, both parties had entered an unbreakable stalemate. While they were perfectly willing to die so that the other may live, they were absolutely determined to prevent the other from doing the same.

“Ken...you can’t leave me like that.” Yuki pleaded, her very being feeling like it was splintering and cracking, about to disintegrate at any given moment. “We’ve come too far for that. If you become the one to be taken, that’s far more painful to me than any amount of experimentation. After all our adventures on this quest, I’d have no idea what I’d do without you. But...you feel the same way, don’t you?”

Ken’s eyes betrayed the emotional tempest threatening to tear his soul apart. “I’m begging you, Yuki, don’t leave me. You promised me that you would stay by my side until my end. All those good times we had together on the quest...all of those will be no more if you go. But...you feel the same way, don’t you?”

More silence.

Slow tears began flowing down Ken’s face as he realized that any way this went, it would bring suffering to all of them. Yuki sniffed and started crying as she realized that maybe letting Mitama kill them _was_ the right option. In only a few seconds, both of them stood before each other, silently crying their eyes out.

The guardian simply hung her head as Michael started looking impatient.

But then the Radiant Swords remembered: they had made a promise to do their best on the quest. And as far as they could tell, simply submitting to a demand like this wasn’t trying their best. If fate wouldn’t give them a happy ending, they would have to _make one themselves_.

Both of their eyes hardened with resolve. They knew what they had to do. It was reckless and stupid, but they were overcome with determination.

As the two heroes composed themselves once more, a single shared glance was all they needed to understand what the other was thinking. As Mitama’s eyes widened in shock and Michael tilted his head questioningly, the two of them grasped each other’s hands tightly and activated their headsets. Taking a deep breath, both of their voices spoke at one.

“You’ll take both of us, or take neither of us.”

Michael’s expression changed to one of confusion. “What...did you just say?”

“We meant exactly what we said.” Yuki said in a low voice. “This is our demand. You can either take both of us for your experiments. Otherwise, you can leave us both on this planet and leave.”

Michael’s shocked face gradually turned into one of disbelief. “And who,” he whispered menacingly, “do you two microbes think you are to be making demands like that?”

The Radiant Swords’ grip on each other’s hands tightened. In their minds, they knew that this was a futile display of defiance that would likely earn them nothing but more grief. Michael could easily just take a random one of them with brute force. But their souls burned with determination, and determination was a strong motivator. So strong that they were willing to throw logic out the window and straight-up defy a God.

Yet another period of agonizing silence as Michael glared at the heroes. Then, to their surprise, he smiled. “You’ve got spirit, pipsqueaks. Since I’m feeling a bit merciful today, tell you what - I’m going to help you out…”

The Radiant Swords’ eyes widened. “Really?”

“...and just kill all of you right here and now.”

Their mood immediately plummeted. “Oh.”

Mitama groaned. “We’re all going to die.”

Michael laughed heartily, sending shock waves booming through the atmosphere and nearly knocking the heroes to the ground. “I’m going to be frank with you - my life as a God is coming to a close. Since my time here is almost up, I suppose I can afford to let loose a little bit. Apparently my first warning wasn’t enough. This planet and its puny denizens need to learn what happens when you anger a deity.”

The Starry Sword and the Light of Courage gripped their sword hilts, burning with the fires of resolve despite their nonexistent odds of victory. They had challenged destiny when they had undertaken the quest. Now, they had challenged a God, and were prepared to pay the price - but they were also prepared to go out fighting.

However, Michael seemed to notice something to the west. “Huh. Perhaps I won’t have to do the dirty work myself after all. You three are in for one hell of a treat.”

As a booming tremor shook the very earth below them, the Radiant Swords hastily rushed out of the cathedral. After a moment of hesitation, Mitama followed suit. Those two were idiotic for daring to challenge a God. But...deep inside, she had wanted to challenge the might of the beings above as well, but had never mustered the resolve to do so. Now that those two had provided the spark, Mitama felt a strange feeling within her hardened heart - one that compelled her to help them in their last stand.

 

The Radiant Swords burst out of the cathedral doors, panting. The formerly sunny skies had suddenly become shrouded in dark clouds, save for a hole from which Michael peered at them smugly. As the tremors gradually got stronger, Yuki noticed Mitama running out of the cathedral. “Hey, Mitama...you don’t have to help us, you know.”

“What else am I supposed to do? Sit there and die?” Mitama grumbled. “You two started this, and I’m going to help you end it.”

“Suit yourself, Mitama.” Ken told her as he peered into the distance. “I think I’ve identified what the hell’s going on right now. And if I’m right, we are in some big trouble.”

Ken’s suspicions were confirmed when a massive area in the distance began to shimmer with motes of crimson light. An instant later, the titanic form of Unit Omega materialized out of thin air, emitting an ear-splitting roar. As Yuki and Ken covered their ears, Mitama simply nodded. “Yeah, we have a bit of a problem.”

Recovering from the noise, the Radiant Swords drew their weapons and mustered up all their power. They had already challenged a God, so surely challenging a titan wasn’t too big of a stretch, right?

Deep inside, they knew that it was, indeed, a stretch. How were three Nanos supposed to beat a fifty kilometer tall metal colossus? And even if they somehow avoided getting smashed into paste, then how would they beat a God large enough to hold their entire planet in his hands?

But the duo were determined to fight to the end. Yelling in defiance, the two of them stood firm as Omega began hurtling towards them at top speed. No longer softened by its technology, the black titan’s footsteps crushed the earth and would have sent the Nanos flying through the air if it weren’t for their magic. Once it was within about ten kilometers of its targets, Omega skidded to a halt and raised its fists to smash them into oblivion. The three Nanos raised their swords and projected barriers, but none of them truly believed that their magic could withstand a blow from something like the black titan.

Just as Omega was about to give them an express ticket to the afterlife, a gigantic white fist materialized out of nowhere, impacting squarely in the black titan’s jaw and sending it flying into the ocean with a colossal splash. As the stunned Radiant Swords and a flabbergasted Mitama stared in shock, Unit Alpha’s full frame shimmered into view, looming countless kilometers above them. There was a crackling noise, and a familiar voice boomed from what seemed to be a loudspeaker.

“Hello!” Sophia shouted happily, waving Alpha’s arm at them. “I have managed to get the hang of this. I...hope I arrived in time!”

“Holy...thanks so much! You actually just saved all of our lives!” Yuki yelled with relief, completely disregarding the fact that Sophia might not even be able to hear her. Fortunately, Alpha came equipped with machinery for that exact purpose.

“What in the name of...there’s someone controlling that titan?” Mitama sputtered. “And you know them?”

Unit Alpha waved again. “Hello! My name is Sophia. Yes, I am indeed...controlling Alpha right now! You are...Mitama, are you not?”

“Uhh...yes?”

From within her cockpit, Sophia grinned. “The Aurorans told me about you. Also, I remember your name. From the selection four years ago. Nice to meet you!”

Mitama just shrugged. “Well...nice to meet you too, I guess.”

Omega staggered to its feet once again, and Alpha took the opportunity to leap at it and slam its head into the ocean floor, sending a massive tidal wave cascading over the shoreline. As it struggled to activate its weapons or fight back, the white titan pinned its adversary to the seabed began rapidly punching it in its crimson visor. Omega roared and grabbed Alpha’s hands before hurling it back onto land, sending it crashing through a nearby mountain range. The shock wave from the impact nearly knocked the Radiant Swords out cold, but both of them sighed in relief regardless as they realized that there were no civilizations in the area.

Sophia groaned and maneuvered her controls, prompting Alpha to get back up. However, only then did she notice Michael’s amused visage looking down at them from the sky. Putting two and two together, she shook her head. “Hey, you guys! You’ve really...gotten yourselves into a bit of a mess, huh?”

Mitama sighed. “Tell me about it.”

As Omega rose to its feet again before getting knocked over by one of Alpha’s energy bolts, Michael let out a booming laugh. “So, it looks like our little librarian here has managed to get control of one of those machines. Good job there, by the way. But if you think that the white titan can save your puny friends from the wrath of a God, then I won’t hesitate to crush you alongside them.”

“With all due respect, sir...I do not know nor care about whatever happened to cause this.” Sophia muttered through her own microphone. “All I know is...that Ken and Yuki showed me kindness. Therefore, I...am determined to help them.”

Michael shrugged. “Your funeral, pipsqueak.”

Omega drew its sword and barreled towards its counterpart, who drew its own sword in response. On the now-leveled plains surrounding Electi Terram, the two titans clashed in a heated swordfight, each strike sending ear-splitting echoes ringing through the area. Omega slashed straight down, carving a mountain in half as Alpha deftly avoided the strike. The white titan retaliated with a horizontal stroke that struck Omega in its midsection, nearly toppling it. As Alpha prepared to skewer its enemy, Omega blocked the strike with its forearm - which was nearly run through as a result - before grabbing Alpha’s head and grinding it into the dirt. The white titan kicked out at its attacker, who skidded back before tackling Alpha. The two metallic colossi skidded along the fields, completely decimating them, and slid to a halt barely a kilometer away from the Radiant Swords, who gasped as they were snapped back to reality.

“What are we supposed to do?” Ken asked. “We can’t help Sophia like this!”

Mitama shrugged. “Trying to help that titan is tantamount to suicide.”

Yuki grit her teeth. “But we have to do something.”

There was a sound of groaning metal as Alpha struggled against the grip of its attacker. It managed to throw Omega off, but the dark behemoth grabbed its sword and tried to pin it to the ground. Alpha rolled out of the way in time, and Omega’s blade cut countless kilometers into the planet, emitting yet another massive tremor.

As Omega noticed the three Nanos gaping up at it, the machine roared and raised a hand, which began glowing. Alpha reached up and grabbed its hand, turning it away so that its energy bolt wouldn’t vaporize them. The bolt flew off into the ocean and detonated in a colossal explosion that could have easily decimated a village as large as Aurora, while Omega punched Alpha in the face again before getting tossed aside.

Alpha’s visor flickered as Sophia’s voice spoke from the loudspeaker again. “Hey! I think I have a bit of an idea.”

“Tell us, Sophia.” Yuki yelled. “We’re willing to take any suggestions.”

“Well, I know that Omega has a cockpit too. I...also know where it is. So if I can smash open its visor, I can...help you take command of the black titan. That way, it will stop attacking. Also, in case...you really plan to fight a God, you’re...going to need all the firepower you can get.”

Yuki’s eyes widened. “Really?”

“Yes! It is, however, not guaranteed to work.” Sophia admitted.

“Well, we’re willing to try anything now!” Ken shouted.

Omega got to its feet and reclaimed its sword, which was now heated from its recent dive into the planet’s interior. The black titan roared back into action, using its sword to slash at Alpha’s leg and knock it over. Before it fell, Alpha grabbed Omega’s head and sent it crashing down with it, sending a shower of rocks and dirt cascading over the ruined plains. As the black titan struggled, Alpha got Omega in a headlock and punched its opponent in the face several times before unloading an energy burst directly into its visor. Already weakened from its prior beatings, Omega’s visor shattered like an eggshell, the gigantic shards of glass raining down around the grounded Nanos.

Sophia saw her chance. Pinning the struggling Omega to the ground again, she extended her other hand towards the Nanos. “Now’s our chance! Climb up here!”

Ken, Yuki and Mitama wasted no time, using magically-assisted jumps to leap onto Alpha’s index finger. The white titan lifted them up at a dizzying speed, carrying them directly into the opening it had caused in Omega’s visor. As the Radiant Swords marvelled at the complicated machinery within Omega’s head, they saw what appeared to be a control apparatus. Preparing more runes at their feet, they jumped straight onto the platform supporting the controls, with Mitama following suit.

All three of them landed safely, panting. Upon closer observation, the controls were nearly identical to the ones they had found in the Elites. Ken and Yuki had a brief debate, and Ken strapped into the controls and pressed the button labeled “MANUAL CONTROL” before slamming the confirmation button without reading it.

Immediately, Omega’s struggling ceased. Alpha slowly got up and helped the machine that had been its enemy mere seconds ago get to its feet. As what remained of its visor began to glow red again, Unit Omega turned towards its counterpart and waved its hand to signify that their mission was a success.

“Unbelievable.” Michael muttered. “You’ve got some nerve, jacking those robots to try and stand up to me. But I’ll have you know, the only thing you’ve managed to do is get promoted from bacteria to bugs. And I can still crush a bug effortlessly.”

Michael thought about how he was going to dispose of these annoyances. Surely he only needed to expend the tiniest amount of effort to deal with them. The Phenomena were designed to be nigh-unstoppable for their scale, but to Michael they had the structural integrity of ants. As for those four themselves...they were Nanos, after all. So much as _touching_ them would utterly obliterate them.

Suddenly, he recalled something he saw in a game he watched May play once. _Well, they’re bugs, after all...all I need is one finger. Those specks think they’re all high and mighty, defying me like that...this will show them how powerless they REALLY are compared to me!_

So, without further ado, Michael prepared to poke the planet with his index finger. It was anticlimactic for him, obviously, but it would be tantamount to a cataclysm for any Nano.

Down on Territe, the four Nanos saw the titanic digit descending from the sky like a meteor and groaned. Just by looking at their situation, they realized that there was no way in hell they were going to survive an attack like that. But the Radiant Swords came to a dreadful conclusion - if Michael was willing to directly try and kill them, there was nothing stopping the angered God from taking out his remaining anger on the rest of the planet. It was necessary to retaliate.

Ken, piloting the black titan, analyzed the situation. There was no way he could hope to hold up Michael’s finger, so he was left with the most logical response. Drawing Omega’s gigantic sword, he held it in a ready position and waited.

The finger breached the atmosphere and hurtled towards the planet’s surface, nearly a hundred kilometers in diameter and so close that they could see all the minute details in the digit, like the valleys that were fingerprint ridges and what appeared to be countless flakes of material composing the entire thing. However, it seemed to be moving far slower than Ken had initially expected, which he deduced was possibly because of Michael’s absolute confidence in his victory - which, in turn, was excellent for them. Once it got nearly close enough to smash Omega into the dust, Ken raised its sword and attacked.

A valuable lesson was learned that day - as massive as the Gods’ bodies were, their skin and flesh was just as fragile as any Nano. The energized blade tore straight through Michael’s fingertip, sinking at least half of its length into his flesh. Before the God could notice what just happened, Ken commanded Omega to lunge forward, slicing an enormous gash in the digit. Sophia immediately followed up on the attack, raising Alpha’s hands and firing a pair of energy bursts that blasted the canyon-like wound wide open.

Michael yelped in pain as he promptly withdrew his finger from the planet. Out of the wound, a single drop of crimson fluid seeped out and landed next to Electi Terram, overshadowing the temple and even the nearby mountains.

“Holy crap.” Yuki breathed, almost completely lost for words.

Mitama looked stunned. “So...a God can bleed.”

Sophia gave them a thumbs-up from Alpha. “Good job.”

Ken just tightly gripped his controls and exhaled shakily. Despite the gravity of his situation, he still felt a twinge of guilt at injuring another living being - even if it was a vengeful God. Judging from Yuki and Mitama’s expressions, they felt it too.

Michael looked at his wound. It was a tiny cut, comparable to a slightly deeper-than-usual paper cut that would be expected from a long day at school or the office. But the fact that the Nanos, whom he viewed as lowly bacteria, had managed to _inflict damage to him_ infuriated him. A lot.

“You…” he growled. “You _DARE_ to attack a God? Do you have any idea who you’re messing with? You tiny pests are _NOTHING_ compared to me! _NOTHING!_ ”

All four of the Nanos covered their ears in response to Michael’s ear-splitting outburst. Yuki turned a bit pale. “I think we pissed him off.”

Michael’s eyes didn’t glow or do anything their eyes would do if they were this mad, but they still radiated with distilled hatred. “You know, I thought that watching you struggle would be highly amusing...but you have disrespected me for the last time. No more games - I’m going to _crush_ you like the dust particles you are!”

“Uh, I think we’re _very_ dead this time.” Mitama muttered.

Ken was trying to remember something. Commanding Omega to turn around, he spotted the strange lake where Yuki had gotten her hand burned off. At the sight of it, the memories from before came back to him.

 _“We aren’t Gods.”_ Tobias had said. _“I want you to know that we can be beaten.”_

 _“It’s toxicity is off the charts.”_ Michael had told them. _“Hell, I’d reckon that not even I could survive that if it got into my system.”_

Ken put two and two together as his eyes hardened with resolve. “Yuki,” he told his friend slowly. “I have an idea insane enough to work.”

As he whispered his idea to Yuki, she nodded, then gasped, then backed up in shock. “That,” she began, “is the stupidest idea I’ve ever heard. It’s completely insane and probably won’t work.”

Ken just stared at her imploringly.

Yuki sighed. “But I have complete faith in you, Ken. If you think it’s possible, then I’m willing to follow you through it - whether it succeeds or fails.”

As Ken started making a mad dash to the acid lake, Yuki told Mitama about their plan. Mitama just nodded. “It’s insane, as he said, but it just might work.”

They couldn’t do anything about Sophia except hope she caught on fast enough.

Omega skidded to a halt right beside the lake, with Alpha following close behind. Right as they were about to put the plan into action, Michael struck. Indeed, there was no more playing around in his next attack - he simply poked the area that the heroes were in, hard and fast.

The effect was nothing short of apocalyptic. The massive finger decimated everything within a radius of over one hundred kilometers, tearing the very earth and mountains asunder underneath its force. The mighty Unit Omega was completely crushed by the sheer power of the God’s wrath, but not before a screaming pair of swordfighters and a very frightened temple guardian were catapulted out of its cockpit, tumbling to the trembling ground far below.

When the tremors stopped and the ringing in their ears ceased, the Radiant Swords groggily got up and surveyed the situation. The entire area had been turned into a gigantic, darkened crater - one that was heating up rapidly due to the destroyed Phenomena and the close proximity to their planet’s interior. Omega’s body had been reduced to a flaming mountain of scrap metal, and they saw Alpha lying nearby, smashed and battered but still recognizable. Its visor was completely shattered, and a very dazed Sophia could be seen coughing amidst the dust clouds in the cockpit, her right arm pinned to her seat by a piece of metallic shrapnel. All of them were bruised and bleeding from the impact, with at least several broken bones each, but alive nonetheless.

Mitama summed up their thoughts in a single question. “...How are we still alive?”

Looking up, the Radiant Swords realized what had happened. Much like their own, Michael’s finger had countless ridges engraved into it. It appeared that they had simply managed to get into one of the safe spots said ridges created when they were launched out of the black titan. Barely a kilometer above, the wound that they had inflicted loomed above them, a crimson canyon at least eighty kilometers long.

Yuki shrieked as she noticed that the acid lake was rapidly pouring into the crater and was currently rushing towards them at top speed. Ken raised his sword, eyes glowing as a blue octagram materialized in front of his hand. Drawing upon every last ounce of magic he had, he made a pushing gesture with his hand in an attempt to halt the flow.

As Yuki and Mitama did the same, the flow of acid began to slow down ever so slightly - but they couldn’t hold it back forever. Noticing the position they were in, Ken decided that he would have to attempt his plan regardless. “Yuki - it’s now or never.”

Yuki just nodded, eyes shining with determination.

Clasping their hands together as if to combine their power, the Radiant Swords raised their weapons and channeled every last bit of magic in their very beings, with the intent of lifting the acid lake and forcing it into the wound they had caused in the raging God. Almost immediately, the lake began shimmering with a pale blue light as it slowly rose into the air - but the Radiant Swords were already beginning to feel a painful burning sensation tugging at their hearts.

They shook it off. There was no more room for error. They had to do this now or they would die - along with possibly more innocents, if Michael was feeling like it.

_We have to do this._

The Radiant Swords stopped and corrected themselves.

_We can do this._

Throwing logic out of the window in exchange for blind confidence, the two youth became overcome by the same feeling of determination that had seized them when they had challenged Michael in the first place. Remembering what Magnus had told them before, the two youth took a deep breath and affirmed their goal aloud.

“We _will_ do this.”

As if struck by lightning, their magical abilities seemed to peak instantly. They became enveloped in an aura that glowed with the brightness of a newborn star as they raised their swords and put even more power into their task. The amorphous glob of acid shifted, then began to slowly ascend towards the sky. Mitama raised her blade as its crystal glowed so brightly that it looked like it was about to explode on the spot, and the blob started shifting faster.

Yuki screamed as her foothold crumbled, sending her sliding towards the acid that had already claimed her hand. Ken grabbed her hand even tighter and was nearly pulled down as well, only stopping due to a chunk of rock that was sticking out of the ruined earth. As the two of them strained against the force of gravity while struggling to maintain their magical output, a gigantic white hand swept under them and caught them just as they were about to fall into the deadly liquid. Looking back, they saw Unit Alpha, devastated but still functional. From within its head, Sophia breathed a sigh of relief, blood dripping from the arm she had forced through a metal shard to reach the controls.

There was no time to thank her, however. As the glob fully lifted off of the ground, Sophia raised her hands as her eyes flickered to life, unleashing all of her untapped magic at once. Because of her lack of experience in the outside world, she simply had no concept that this was supposed to be impossible - and as such, her confidence was absolute. Shining like a beacon from within the white titan’s head, her magic combined with that of her comrades and started accelerating the acid lake much faster.

The Radiant Swords were beginning to tire, however. They felt like they were having all of the energy drained out of their bodies and replaced with a dreadful feeling of burning numbness. But they couldn’t stop now. They couldn’t stop until they either died on the spot or accomplished their goal. They blocked out all of their feelings, emotions and senses - leaving their goal as the only thing in their minds.

Mitama gasped as her magic began to run dry, and Sophia began sweating profusely as she discharged as much magic as she could. Both Ken and Yuki panted painfully as they forced out their very lives and souls in order to earn the happy end they wanted.

With sudden dread, all four of them realized that their bodies were quite literally fading away. Their limbs turned more greyscale and transparent, and little wisps of...something kept coming off of their bodies. Ken and Yuki looked at each other in horror, Mitama’s eyes widened in dull surprise, and Sophia nearly collapsed from a sudden revelation.

But like Magnus had said, attitude was everything. And their attitude paid off.

With a final push, all four Nanos gave one last scream of defiant determination as they forced the contents of the entire lake into the gaping wound in Michael’s finger. Collapsing from exhaustion, the only thing that they could do now was wait and hope that their efforts were not in vain.

Michael could have effortlessly foiled their final stand. He could have easily removed his finger much sooner than he did, or just rubbed it around to crush them. But Michael had one major flaw: his ego. He had been so sure of his victory that he wanted to show it off in order to rub it in. He had even deactivated the device that limited the Nanos’ vision of him, allowing the entire planet to see what he had just done. But in the end, his megalomania would be his downfall.

Mere minutes after the deed was done, Michael felt...odd. His vision swam, his body numbed, and his thoughts began to swirl uncontrollably. “What…” he groaned. “What the hell is this?”

Back on Territe, a drained Ken and Yuki saw Michael’s confusion and felt a surge of guilt. Even after what Michael had put them through, they knew what their actions would entail - the death of a God - and they felt bad for it. Activating their headsets, both of them whispered their condolences. “We’re really sorry, Michael. It could have ended another way. But...in the end, this is something we had to do. Our apologies.”

Michael grunted in pain. “What the hell…what did you do to me?”

His eyes became overcome with a primal fury. _“What did you do to me?”_

The Radiant Swords didn’t even have enough energy to cover their ears.

Michael breathed heavily. “You...I have no idea how the hell you bacteria managed to pull this off. To be laid low by such pathetic creatures...I won’t accept it!”

He slowly raised both hands in the air, clasping them together and preparing to swing. “Alright, then...you might have won, dust mites, but I won’t die without extracting the price of your victory. You know what? If I die, _I am taking this entire goddamned planet with me!_ ”

All four of the Nanos’ blood froze. The situation ran through their fevered minds almost instantly. From a being of that size, a hit like the one Michael was about to perform would decimate an entire hemisphere of their planet. The tremors from the impact could easily lay waste to every square meter of Territe. In short, if he pulled it off, that hit could cause the extinction of all life on Territe.

All around the world, people huddled in fear at the sight of the mad God preparing his attack. Back at Yume, Daichi exhaled shakily while Ai put her hands over her mouth to slow her breathing. They had already nearly fainted when they saw the God crush the area where their children could easily have been, but now their entire planet was about to kick the bucket.  Lucas and Stacey hugged each other while screaming that this was all just a dream.

In Atlas, the Brimstone Drakes bellowed with worry as the Magnum scrambled around frantically, preparing shields all around their village. Magnus himself stood in the middle of it all, pouring all of his magic into maintaining the shield. He had no idea what was happening, but he could tell that it was bad. As such, he was prepared to do what any sane leader would do: expend everything to protect his people.

In Eulogia, Julius stood firm as he gathered all of his citizens to the top of the mountain, where he hoped that any landslides caused by the God’s wrath would not affect them. For some reason, he thought of those two kids that came to his village, Ken and Yuki. His village came first in terms of concern, but he prayed for their safety nonetheless.

In Aurora, Joseph barked evacuation orders as Anthony helped herd all the citizens into the shelters they had built in case of a catastrophe. According to the prior earthquakes and what was happening now, apparently those two kids had angered a God...which wouldn’t be the first time someone had done that in Joseph’s lifetime. After all, the town of Rovacan tried that and got drowned in acid for their troubles. But a calamity of this scale was still unheard of, at least to him. Joseph had to stay strong for his people, but barely concealed was his cold fear that all of their planet’s advancements would be undone by a single God’s rage.

Back at the ravaged wasteland that used to be the land around Electi Terram, the Nanos that had caused this looked up in horror. Sophia shook her head in disbelief. Now that she was staring death in the face, her life flashed before her eyes. She deemed that highly ironic, and made a note of it in her notepad before closing her eyes and preparing for the worst.

Mitama simply dropped to her knees, silently making peace with whatever Gods she still believed in. Then she closed her eyes and waited.

As for the Radiant Swords themselves, they didn’t even have enough strength to scream out in fear or frustration. The two youth extended fading, smoky hands, helped each other to their knees, and had what they were sure was their last conversation.

Yuki’s head was hung low. “...Hey, Ken?”

“...What is it?”

“...I don’t want to die, Ken...”

It was a strange thing for Yuki to say, since they had accepted death every time it had looked them in the eye and invited them with open arms. But now...well, they had just tried their best, as they promised. And not only did they fail regardless, it was going to cost them everything they had: their home, their family, their friends, and their lives. In the face of such circumstances, her sense of mortality had finally surfaced. And judging from Ken’s pale, shaky visage, his had surfaced too.

“...Me neither, Yuki.” Ken whispered tearfully, his normally stoic veneer disintegrating. “We made a huge mistake...and now, it’s going to cost everyone on this planet. I’m so sorry, Yuki...everyone. I…we...”

Ken couldn’t say anything else before breaking down into tears.

Seeing her normally composed friend like this in the face of the planet’s obliteration, Yuki broke down sobbing as well. With their last motes of vitality, the Radiant Swords embraced each other and buried their faces in the other’s shoulder - in hopes that they would each still have their best friend to stand by them in the afterlife.

 

_Thud._

A dull, echoing sound reverberated through the planet’s atmosphere.

Slowly, Ken opened one eye. Was he dead? Was that thud the sound of the soul leaving the body for the afterlife? Opening his eye wider, he saw that Yuki was still there, sobbing and hugging him tightly.

“Yuki, thank the Gods. You’re still here.” Ken whispered happily.

The girl opened her eyes. “Hm? Oh...I am?”

She looked around. Everything was still the same as it had been before. A blasted, scorched crater, with the two Phenomena lying dead in the dust. Yuki’s exhausted mind tried to process the situation. Was this the afterlife?

“Wow.” Mitama muttered, startling the two of them. “Before you ask, we’re not dead.”

The Radiant Swords looked at her with stunned looks plastered on their faces. “Wait.” they sputtered in unison, “What happened, then?”

“I couldn’t help but gaze upon the end of the world.” Mitama admitted. “Michael just kind of...collapsed on the spot. The thud that we heard was likely the sound of him hitting the floor of whatever room our planet’s being kept in. In short...well, the poison took effect. I still can’t believe it myself. Do you know what we have done?”

“We...we just killed a God.” Yuki breathed.

Mitama nodded slowly. “Never in my entire life would I believe something like this is possible. Yet...we are living proof of it. We won.”

Ken and Yuki collapsed again, practically crying with relief. Mitama dropped to her knees, fatigue taking hold of her as well. Sophia stumbled out of what used to be Alpha’s visor and crashed into the dirt next to them. She looked half-dead and completely drained, but she was nonetheless alive.

“So,” she asked quietly. “What now?”

The Radiant Swords barely had the energy left to shrug. Deep inside their hearts, they knew that this wasn’t over. Once the other five Gods realized what they had done to Michael, there was no telling what would happen after.

Regardless, the next couple hours were just spent lying on the ground amidst the burning wreckage of Alpha and Omega, completely drained of energy. Sophia was the first to recover her magic, so she started healing their injuries despite several concerns for her well-being. Soon, all of them were fully healed - but still tired as hell.

In the meantime, Sophia explained something she had realized during their recent magical exertion. The way their bodies seemed to fade like that - that had never happened before, because nobody she had seen in her life had ever exerted that much magic in a single go and lived to tell the tale. Sophia didn’t have any definitive proof, but she had a theory that their _entire bodies_ were in fact composed of magic. The amount of magic they had discharged at once was what caused their bodies to start dissolving - if the body’s reserves were out, it would start using the magic that made up its being in its stead.

For the Radiant Swords, it seemed plausible. However, none of them were in the mood to think about it for too long. To be fair to Sophia, their bodies _felt_ like they had been dissolved and reformed within a short time, so perhaps she was right.

The wait lasted for what seemed to be an eternity. The Radiant Swords had no idea if this dreadful suspense was leading to their victory parade or their execution.

Suddenly, a piercing shriek tore through the air, forcing nearly every Nano on the planet to cover their ears in surprise. About ten seconds later, the face of an extremely disturbed looking Alice appeared in the sky. “You...what happened to Michael? Is he okay?”

The Radiant Swords sighed, compelled by their morals to tell the truth immediately. Activating his microphone, Ken told her what could have easily been their death sentence: “Uh...I’m pretty sure we kind of killed him.”

Alice turned her eyes towards the area near Electi Terram. “What?”

Yuki launched into a rapid explanation. “We made some demands following the end of the quest, and Michael just randomly decided to try and kill us. We were afraid that he would go on to destroy things needlessly, and...well, we really wanted a happy ending. So we fought him and he nearly killed us all, but then we poisoned him, and then he tried to destroy the whole planet but he died from the poison and...we’re really sorry.”

Alice silently surmised the situation. Judging from the small (to her) crater in the planet, Michael had evidently caused a lot of damage. She looked back at the Radiant Swords and sighed. “Alright...you know what, I think this would be better if we took this to Tobias and the others.”

All four of the Nanos were stunned. “Say what, now? But how?”

Alice pulled out a silver device. “I’m going to have to pick you guys up. Hold on tight.”

None of them had any time to voice their complaints before a pale blue beam engulfed them, sending them rocketing into the sky. Ken and Yuki screamed hysterically as they shot through the clouds, Mitama silently raised a magical shield around them, and Sophia seemed utterly bewildered by the absurdity of what had just transpired.

They rose countless kilometers into the air, past the atmosphere and into what was supposed to be the beginning of space...except it wasn’t. The air was a lot thinner, but it was nonetheless breathable. The Radiant Swords couldn’t see very far into the distance - all they managed to make out was dark silver in all directions.

Looking behind them, they gasped as they saw their planet in its entirety for the first time. The vibrant orb of blue, white, and green was a marvelous sight, and all of them could easily identify every place they had visited in their lives from this vantage point. Next to them, a massive ball of fire that could only be their sun blazed with unparalleled intensity, forcing them to look away.

And in front of them stood the Goddess Alice herself.

This was their first time seeing the true form of a God, and...quite frankly, they were quite surprised. Despite her titanic stature, Alice looked no different than any Nano living on Territe. Yet the sheer scale of the being before them still intimidated them. Looking back at their planet, they saw that she was large enough to easily cradle their entire planet in her arms. Doing some mental math, they deduced that if Alice was their size, Territe would only be about fifty centimeters in diameter. Then...what did that make them?

Yuki realized how high up they were floating and threw up on the spot, while Ken tried not to do the same. Below them, Mitama groaned as she deflected the vomit with a barrier. Sophia seemed to be taking mental notes of everything she saw.

Apparently Alice noticed their distress, because she quickly moved her hand underneath the floating Nanos, depositing them on her fingertip. As the four of them landed with a muffled thump, her voice boomed from above as a supermassive blue eye appeared before them. “Is this better?”

Yuki coughed uncomfortably and lay down. “Yeah...thanks, miss.”

Ken looked around as the deity’s walking caused muffled tremors through their environment. Spanning an area of over one hundred kilometers was a landscape of incredibly long and deep canyons, twisting and turning every which way. The ground itself was a shade of pinkish-beige, and seemed to be composed of innumerable large plates of material. Ken examined his own fingertip and wondered if that’s really what it looked like up close.

Sophia sat down and started writing in her notebook - never missing a chance to sate her desire for knowledge - while Mitama experimentally slashed at the ground, tearing through Alice’s skin like paper. While it was impossible for a weapon that small to do any lasting damage to the deity, Mitama was still surprised that her body was no less durable than their own.

After about a minute, the Nanos were enveloped in blue light again as they were lifted up and deposited on some hard surface. Getting their bearings, all four of them gasped as they realized where they were.

It appeared that they were on a flat, metallic surface that seemingly stretched into infinity. Laying on the desk were a number of writing implements similar to the ones they would use, except massively scaled up to accommodate beings like the Gods. And around them…

“...Wow.” all four of them breathed simultaneously.

Forming a ring around them, all five remaining Gods towered over them, looking down at them with various expressions on their faces. Diana looked uneasy, Matheus intrigued, May fearful, and Alice concerned. Tobias, who had seemingly recovered from his illness, simply had a neutral expression on his face, looking down at them with interest.

It was the first time any of them had seen all the Gods together, and they were also likely the first ones to meet the Gods in person. Overwhelmed, Ken and Yuki dropped to their knees, while Mitama and Sophia sat down and tried to control their breathing.

All five Gods activated their earpieces.

“Children,” Diana said reassuringly, “You have every right to be frightened. Yet this is something that we must do - and for that, we apologize. Now, can someone please explain to us exactly what happened back there?”

With a shaking voice, Yuki stood up and began to slowly explain the exact events that had led up to this moment: from their battle with Mitama, to Michael’s outburst, to their grand plan to fell a God. Throughout her explanation, the Gods stared silently down at her, occasionally nodding to show acknowledgement. Once she was finished, Yuki collapsed to her knees again, and Ken put a hand on her shoulder to comfort her.

Silence from all five of the researchers.

“Hey, kids. You have nothing to be sorry about.” Matheus told them. “He tried to kill you, and you refused to roll over and die. That’s it. In fact, I am duly impressed. Your species is usually so submissive...but this proves how powerful they can be given the right stimuli.”

“But I still can’t believe it. Michael is dead…” Diana muttered. “And after we had just got into that argument...I really wish we could have parted on better terms.”

Tobias simply nodded. “Michael’s death was regrettable indeed. I placed a great deal of trust in the man, since I really believed he could become so much more. However, I supposed that his desire for power was a bit too much. I don’t blame him too much. With what he’s been through in his life, it would make sense for him to seek a world to escape to, where he could be in control. But...well, I already told him about the power of the Nanos. He knew who he was messing with when he tried this stunt.”

“All in all, we forgive you!” May told them happily. “No need to worry!”

As the four of them breathed a sigh of relief, Yuki remembered something. “Hey...by the way, is everything Mitama told us really true? As in all the stuff about us just being a part of a scientific experiment?”

The Gods were stunned. Eventually, Tobias nodded. “Yes. All of that is true.”

Ken stood up. “Wait, then I have a question. Why did you design the quest in the first place if you needed test subjects? It seems really inefficient and unnecessary.”

“To be honest, I was not the one who designed it.” Tobias told him. “That would be none other than Michael’s grandfather, part of the original group of researchers. Those people were an interesting bunch. They had a burning ambition to shape Territe into a world of their own imagining, and they kick-started most of what you see on your planet today. Michael’s grandfather was a bit of a radical - he shared his grandson’s desire to be a God, and also had a bit of an obsession with fantasy settings. Since the researchers were a bit conflicted with simply taking Nanos from the planet, they accepted his solution. As for us...well, I supposed we were scared that if we changed it, it would cause total calamity amidst the Nanos. I suppose we were wrong.”

Silence from the Nanos.

Tobias hung his head. “I tire of this position. Every passing year of playing Gods weighs more and more on our consciences as your species advances. I must thank you, Ken and Yuki - you showed enough emotion, humanity, and _sentience_ to wake me up to the true nature of the actions we were committing. The others had either shown blind faith or begrudging submissiveness. Even Mitama and her sister, despite their performance, powered towards their goal without too many secondary thoughts. And since you four have achieved the highest accomplishment of any Nano - felling a human - I suppose I can ask for your opinion on our plan for this project.”

The Radiant Swords stood firm. “We are honored. Ask away.”

“In short, we’ve decided to give up.” Tobias told them. “We’re scrapping our project and our research. Once everything is sorted out, we will return your planet to space. You will all be free of our influence.”

The four Nanos looked at each other in shock and started whispering their opinions. After a minute, the Radiant Swords spoke their minds.

“We...believe that to be a good decision for us.” Ken said. “We thank you for everything you have done for us over the last centuries, regardless of your true intentions. You have truly made us who we are today. But I feel that we have grown as a species. Much like a child leaving its parent, I feel that we could do even better if we were left to our own devices, instead of having to accommodate your will. We will always be grateful to you...but I feel that this would be the best for us.”

“Well spoken, kid.” Michael said, impressed. “Well spoken.”

Yuki spoke up. “We are incredibly honored that you would put aside your project for us. It must be hard to let go of a project that you have been working on for several centuries. Ken is right, though. I feel that you have given our species the boost it needed to advance to this level. But now, I think it’s time that we became independent. We can’t keep relying on you for our development anymore.”

Tobias nodded. “Well, I suppose that does it. Everyone, prepare to pack up. In about a week, we are leaving this station and leaving the Nanos. As for you four, we will return you to your home shortly, don’t worry.”

Sophia raised a hand, even though she knew she couldn’t be seen. “Question.”

Diana turned towards her. “What is it, child?”

“Can I be...allowed to leave Alpha now?” Sophia asked. “I don’t like being lonely. I want to meet other people. I want to share my knowledge with the world.”

Diana laughed. “Of course! Hell, I’ll even give you more books containing knowledge about our world as well! You guys deserve to know as much about us as you need. Speaking of why you were stuck on Alpha that whole time...I don’t even know why we put that restriction in the first place.”

Matheus frowned. “I thought you were the one who came up with that.”

Diana turned red. “That’s not the point. Anyways, you’re free now, child.”

Sophia, who had ignored what had just transpired, breathed a sigh of happiness as a single tear traced down her cheek. “Thank you.”

Mitama, who had been oddly quiet during this whole ideal, finally spoke. “Question.”

This time, Tobias turned towards her. “Ask away. You have every right to be confused.”

“...What has become of my sister?”

Tobias’s face fell. All the researchers looked at each other quizzically. Mitama closed her eyes and feared the worst.

Suddenly, a faint smile flitted across Tobias’ face. He swiftly left the room, returning a minute later with...something suspended in another beam of light. He gently laid it in front of Mitama, who squinted at it. It seemed to be a metal box the size of a room, with a simple door at the front. As Tobias muttered something into a microphone, the door slid open a crack, revealing some kind of well-lit room within. A small, groggy voice drifted out of the door. “...Is it time already? I’m so sleepy…”

Mitama’s eyes widened. “No way…”

The door opened, and out stepped a little girl who couldn’t have been older than nine. She wore an identical attire to Mitama - light armor over a white shirt and black leggings, along with a silver cloak and brown boots - but she had shorter hair that was a color in between silver and icy blue, as opposed to the former’s longer grey hair. Her eyes, which were the same shade of pale bluish-silver as her hair, widened in shock.

“...Sis?”

Mitama clasped her hands over her mouth. “Hibiki!”

With a speed only seen before during her fight with the Radiant Swords, Mitama dashed at her sister and tackled her with a heartfelt hug.

Hibiki laughed, tears of joy springing to her eyes. “Mitama! You have no idea how much I missed you!”

Mitama couldn’t bring herself to smile or laugh, simply standing there looking like she had just walked through a wasteland and hugging her sister as if to never let her go. “But...how? I thought you had been taken for testing!”

“Oh...yeah. I did get taken for testing, sis.” Hibiki told her. “But I just didn’t die and managed to live with the Gods for the last four years. Just because I’m being researched doesn’t mean I’m going to die, Mitama.”

Mitama seemed wholly confused and relieved at the same time. “Well...was it bad? How did the Gods treat you?”

Hibiki broke into a cheery grin. “Nah, it was pretty cool! Besides some…” She paused for a bit to think of how she could phrase her next words without giving Mitama a heart attack. “...interesting tests and stuff that I had to do, they pretty much let me do my own thing. They even let me continue trying to become a musician, like I had always wanted! Plus, I even made friends with most of them! They might be huge, but they’re really nice when you get to know them! I was lonely without you...but hey, they still treated me like their friend!”

Mitama breathed a shaky sigh. Her eyes looked like they were attempting to cry rivers, but it was like all of her tears had dried up ages ago. “Oh, Hibiki...I’m just so glad you’re alright!”

Far above, Tobias turned towards his colleagues and raised an eyebrow. “You befriended her? Didn’t I warn you befriending the Nanos might break you if they ended up dying? Especially one taken for research, who is most likely to die soon?”

All of the other researchers fidgeted and tried to make excuses.

“Uh...well, she was brave enough to ask for friendship. I would say that virtue alone made it worth our time to befriend her.” Matheus told him awkwardly.

“She was lonely,” Alice retorted. “She needed comfort and companionship. And since she didn’t know anybody here, well…”

“She was just so adorable!” May protested. “She talked to me so much!”

Diana just nodded. “Everyone deserves friends, and I was willing to pay the potential price of heartbreak. It was as simple as that.”

Tobias gave them a disapproving glare. Then, to their surprise, he laughed. “I was just probing you. You’re free to do whatever you want, after all. In the end, I guess it all worked out.”

All the researchers sighed in relief.

“Let’s prepare to send these guys home.” Tobias told his colleagues, before turning towards the tiny heroes on the desk in front of him. “All of you have been through a lot, and you really deserve a break. Once we’re ready, we’ll send you guys off into space, and hope that nobody tries to take control of your world again.”

The Nanos were ecstatic, but Yuki felt...something nagging at her soul. Pulling at Ken’s sleeve, she whispered her idea in his ear.

Ken’s eyes widened. “You...do you really want to go through with this?”

Yuki just nodded. “My instincts tell me that it’s the right thing to do.”

As the other three Nanos crowded in to listen, Yuki repeated her idea. All three of them were duly surprised, but unanimously agreed after less than a minute of thinking.

Sophia’s reply was simple. “I don’t see why not. I...would love to help them out.”

“I would love to help out more!” Hibiki exclaimed.

Mitama hesitated, then nodded. “Well, they treated my sister with care...for that, I can easily forgive them for everything they did. I would love to help them.”

Yuki nodded before turning towards the Gods, who were about to depart. “Excuse me?”

All five of the researchers turned towards her. “Hm? What is it?”

Yuki gulped. Despite how casually the Gods had treated them so far, it still frightened her to have five galactic-scale entities giving her their full attention. Regardless, she steeled her nerves and spoke. “...You are still missing information about us, right?”

Tobias was confused. “I...suppose so?”

“And you would still want that information?”

Matheus opened his mouth, then sighed guiltily. “Yes.”

“Well, it looks like you need help.” Yuki told them. “And it is our duty to give help to anyone who needs it. So, we will stay here with you and help you complete your research.”

All five researchers were taken aback by her sudden proclamation.

“W-what?” Tobias stuttered, his stoic mask breaking.

“You...would do that for us?” Alice whispered in awe. “After what we did?”

“You don’t have to do this.” Matheus said cautiously. “You owe us nothing.”

“Children, are you sure?” Diana asked.

“Really?” May gasped.

All five Nanos gave different responses that all meant the same thing.

“For sure. It’s only natural that we help you complete your goal.” Ken said. “We should give help to anyone who needs it.”

“We would feel terrible if you just left with incomplete research.” Yuki told them. “While we wouldn’t want to get the rest of the planet involved, we are willing to help.”

“We should. You need help. We can give you help.” Sophia said confidently.

Mitama nodded. “We can give you what you’re looking for.”

“Anything to help out!” Hibiki exclaimed enthusiastically.

All five researchers were completely stunned.

Tobias took deep breaths, a single tear tracing down his cheek. “Your species really is special.” he whispered. “If our world had people as selfless as you...things would have been very, very different.”

Then he did something that none of them expected.

Tobias, along with the other researchers, got down on one knee and knelt reverently to the Radiant Swords and their friends. Despite the fact that they still towered over the microscopic Nanos, the action’s message was clear as day.

“Thank you.” Tobias whispered. ”Truly, you would have all made better Gods than us.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Totally didn't watch that one scene from _Asura's Wrath_ while writing this.


	10. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to Nex for helping me come up with concepts for some of the ridiculously over-the-top robot designs used here.

“Ken.”

“Uhh…”

“Ken! Wake up!”

The young boy’s eyes snapped open. “What? I wasn’t asleep, I swear!”

The shorter girl in front of him grinned, her eyes sparkling with mirth. “You wouldn’t dare sleep in on something as important as this, right?”

Ken just groaned as he walked out the door. Yuki was practically bouncing with glee. Judging from his internal clock, it was probably what amounted to dawn back on Territe. Yuki had probably just woken them up in her excitement. Hibiki was rubbing her eyes while groggily humming to herself, Mitama was trying to prop herself up with her sword, and Sophia just groaned and rolled over again.

They had been living with the human researchers for a little bit over a month now. The humans tried to make living for the microscopic Nanos as easy and safe as possible, despite the fact that they still lived in a metal cabin on one of their tables. With how small the Nanos were, extreme care was a necessity - the slightest mistake could easily obliterate all five of them a thousand times over. Despite the danger it entailed, the Nanos were willing to help their former Gods with pretty much anything they needed, volunteering for tests, scans, and the like - and their researchers were trying to make the tests as friendly as possible. Under this unlikely partnership, both parties ended up gaining incredible amounts of knowledge about each other. The Nanos learned about human culture, and the humans learned about Nano biology. Not to mention, the Nanos and the humans had become practically best buds over this time. Despite the difference in their sizes, they were as friendly to each other as any friends.

“Morning, kids.” Tobias said as his face entered their view. “Sleep well?”

“Fairly well.” Ken muttered. “Would have been better, if _somebody_ hadn’t woken us all up early…”

Beside him, Yuki snickered happily, not even trying to deny it. Hibiki laughed, and Mitama just sighed contentedly as she poked Sophia awake.

“Is today really the day?” Yuki asked.

Diana entered the scene. “Yes it is, child. Today, you will get to meet the denizens of our planet, Earth. Then, you will clash in a grand spectacle that’s sure to prove your strength to humankind.”

This was all part of the plan they had all come up with the other day. The researchers would stream a video of the Nanos to all watchers, allowing anyone interested to see what the top-secret research project that had been flitting around the internet for years was about. Anybody interested had already been directed to design and control a custom combat nanomachine, which would be 3D printed with the help of the Nanos’ magic before clashing head-on with the tiny warriors. Both parties had complete confidence that the Nanos could easily handle any battle machine - which would prove to mankind that their size didn’t matter when it came to skill and power.

And despite the implications, the event had actually been Hibiki’s idea. Ken didn’t know why the child kept dragging them into crazy situations like this, but she was overly enthusiastic about everything - which might have been the reason why her magic was so god-awfully powerful. Yuki was less concerned about that and more concerned about how she kept blowing up all the human food they got, blasting it into countless chunks. While it was now bite-sized, cooking it in a specific way was hard when it had already been hit by what amounted to a magical artillery strike.

Matheus walked in, a thoroughly perplexed look on his face.

“How was it, Matheus?” Diana asked. “Find anything yet?”

To their surprise, Matheus put his head in his hands. “I give up.”

“What?”

Matheus just shrugged. “I told you. I just can’t explain half of what this stuff is.”

Indeed, the workings of the Nanosapients had violated nearly every single law of physics that Matheus had studied in his long years as a physicist. Creatures of their size simply _could not_ be that complex...yet the Nanos still stood there. Despite the fact that they shouldn’t be able to see colored light at that size, they still did. Despite the fact that organs and cells were unheard of at that size...they still had them. That was just the tip of the mind-boggling iceberg. And while Matheus did have a theory that would explain everything, it went against everything he believed in.

“...Well, you’ve gotta have something, right?” May asked, entering the conversation.

“There is one theory I have.” Matheus admitted. “It would easily explain nearly everything about the Nanos in a heartbeat. But in order for it to be feasible, we have to do something that I have never considered until recently.”

“What?”

“...Admit that magic really exists.” Matheus sighed.

Alice shrugged. “Sure, I guess. After all, our technology has advanced so much that it may as well be magic. Why can’t real magic exist, then?”

Tobias nodded. “Huh. I suppose that we can’t expect everything in this universe to follow our rules, after all. Let’s say we admit it. Then what?”

Matheus seemed to be gathering his thoughts. “I’ve done numerous scans. It appears the reason for their defiance of physics is that their entire bodies are composed of condensed magical energy, formed into the shape of a complex life-form. Every living thing on the planet emits some kind of energy signature that matches a signature given off by the planet itself, implying that the planet is the source of their magical abilities - which isn’t too far-fetched, considering it has its own atmosphere and gravity despite its minute size. It appears that creatures from Territe are born from the combined magic of their parents, and will return to the soil as magic instead of decomposing upon death. The really strange part is that the Nanos - and their planet - seem to emit a kind of wide-area magic field around them that actually bends reality to their convenience. Anything near a Nano that would not have worked on a scale this small _will_ work so that the Nanos can experience life the way we do, such as compressing wavelengths of light and somehow even _shrinking particles_. This applies to everything living on that planet: grass, trees, animals, everything. It’s...remarkable and completely mind-blowing.”

“That’s incredible.” Diana breathed.

Tobias was stunned. “This is a power that we thought only Gods would have…”

The Nanos standing before them were shocked. They were really that powerful?

Alice walked in, having overheard the whole conversation. “The Nanos have the power to passively dictate their own reality? We have sorely underestimated these beings.”

“There is much I still do not understand.” Matheus continued. “But I am not willing to look into this any further. We would need an entire new branch of science to even begin scratching the surface of these phenomena - and I am unwilling to do any more research or experimentation on such a mysterious and powerful species.”

“Did you hear that?” May said excitedly, before covering her mouth as the Nanos cringed in mild pain. “All of you are basically Gods!”

“Us...Gods?” Ken breathed.

“To us, indeed you are.” Tobias admitted.

“Wow. That is...incredible.” Sophia said in awe.

“Wait, I’m a God? That’s so cool!” Hibiki exclaimed.

The researchers smiled as Diana spoke once more. “Anyways, thank you, Matheus. You tried your best, and that’s what matters. As for you, children, are you ready for the grand event?”

The five of them spoke as one.

“You bet we are!”

 

An hour later, the Nanos stood on a metal table, in front of a tiny camera. They had practiced a speech for this specific moment, yet they still felt nervous about speaking to several billion people at once. Matheus had tested and confirmed that the camera was being subjected to what he now called their “Absolute Reality Field”, which meant that the humans of Earth could see them in color despite that being supposedly impossible by their laws of physics.

They remembered what Diana had said about the name that had been chosen for this phenomenon. “Absolute Reality Field? Who named that, Tobias?”

Tobias had just shrugged. “Guilty.”

Lined up in a neat row, all five Nanos had their weapons drawn. Ken and Yuki had their broadsword and katana planted at their feet, and Mitama had her magical blade in the same position. Hibiki stood as tall as she could, a small instrument clasped in her hands. The weapon looked like a magic wand, with a topper resembling an opened flower holding a clear crystal. While it looked simple, the Radiant Swords had witnessed Hibiki’s overwhelming magical power during their combat tests, and both of them knew what the little wand was really capable of. Also, it functioned as some kind of flute. That was nice.

Sophia, on the other hand, held a more...unorthodox weapon. She had brought her prototype with her without any of them noticing, and had perfected it over the last month so that the Gods could observe her craftsmanship. Now, the weapon resembled a bulky, whitish-silver broadsword with a trigger on its hilt. Sophia had based it off of the weapons used by the Elites, and as such it was a multipurpose weapon. At the flick of a switch, the sword would split into a fork-like shape and become a devastating plasma cannon that could fire both normal and charged blasts, in addition to being highly conductive to magic. Ken was impressed by her creativity, but Sophia had yet to use her weapon in combat yet. It wasn’t guaranteed to work.

Regardless, the Nanos stood proud before the camera. After receiving an OK signal from the Nanos, Diana started the livestream. As millions on Earth turned their attention to the heroes, the five of them steeled their nerves and introduced themselves.

“Greetings, citizens of Earth.” Ken began. “My name is Ken Hoshizora. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“I’m Yuki no Hikari.” Yuki continued. “Like my friend Ken said, it’s nice to meet you!”

Sophia stepped up. “H-hello! I am Sophia Aurelius. Nice...to meet you.”

Mitama followed suit. “My name is Mitama Nagoyaka. Pleased to make your acquaintance.”

Finally, Hibiki stepped up. “Hi, everyone! I’m Mitama’s sister, Hibiki Nagoyaka! I’m glad to meet all of you!”

As the five of them tried to slow their heart rates, Matheus made a gesture to go on. Ken remembered he had a job to do and cleared his throat.

“As you may know, we are Nanosapients from the planet Territe. If you are currently watching this, you have likely designed and are ready to control a combat nanomachine. Within a minute’s time, millions of you will take up arms against the five of us. We just wanted to introduce ourselves and wish you luck for your battle.”

All five Nanos bowed to the camera. “Thank you for your time.”

The broadcast shut down, and the Nanos looked up at the researchers, who gave them thumbs-up signs. Turning towards the horizon, they glimpsed a massing mechanical armada as the human-designed battle machines started warping in. It was an army millions strong, but the Nanos felt ready for anything.

Within thirty seconds, the army activated and mobilized, running towards them over the vast silver plains before them. The Nanos raised their weapons, yelled their battle cries, and charged in to meet their new opponents.

 

It had only been ten minutes and the battle was shifting heavily in the Nanos’ favor. Each battle machine had been designed with combat in mind, but each of them had a design flaw. Some were far too loaded down with weapons to use them, and others were simply overspecialized. Some of them just seemed to have pilots that were inexperienced combatants. And of course, the lack of any extraordinarily powerful weapons indicated that the humans had sorely underestimated their microscopic opponents. There were a decent amount of incredibly well-designed machines and even more that fought skillfully, but those ones simply qualified as opponents and not cannon fodder.

Ken yelled as he fought like a living whirlwind, his glowing blade tearing everything within a five-meter radius asunder. While some of the machines realized that it wasn’t such a smart idea to engage him in close combat, many still tried. A machine that resembled a tall, gold-armored knight raised a massive blade and charged him. Ken blocked its initial strike and shot a wave of fire at it, temporarily staggering it. The machine blocked his next slash and raised its sword, only for Ken to sidestep its two-handed downward swing. While it was still reeling from the strike, Ken lopped both its arms off before skewering its head.

Beside him, Yuki protected them from projectiles with glowing shields, the bullets and rockets pinging off of the barriers like raindrops hitting leaves. A nearby robot with twin daggers leapt at her, but she cleanly bisected it before impaling another one that had just exited invisibility next to her. An armored goliath lumbered towards her, and she swung her sword in a wide arc, unleashing numerous green crescents of light. The beams struck the colossus and exploded violently, wearing away at its armor until the machine finally gave in and collapsed.

Sophia swung her magically-charged sword around somewhat clumsily, the weapon still cutting apart all of her opponents in at most two strikes. While she was rather unwieldy with her sword, any attacks that would have hit her were deflected off of an exceedingly powerful magic sphere that encapsulated her. Firing several bolts of lightning that smote about a dozen machines, she switched her sword’s mode and unloaded a barrage of plasma charges, decimating an entire platoon of wheeled cyclopians. As a spider-like tank engaged two heavy artillery cannons of its own, she shot them out of the air with a magical burst before unleashing a charged, searing plasma blast, felling it in one shot.

Hibiki laughed happily while decimating everything that came within half a kilometer of her with immense discharges of magic, taking advantage of the fact that she was (mostly) alone to let loose her powers. Noticing a battalion of gigantic mecha approaching the Radiant Swords, Hibiki materialized a triangular rune in front of her wand as she unleashed a massive comet that utterly obliterated the machines. Turning towards a swarm of insectoid robots flying towards her, she swung her wand in an arc, discharging a tidal wave of violet energy that tore them to shreds. Hibiki raised her wand, gathered her energy, and fired a beam at the charging army in the distance, annihilating everything within a two-kilometer radius of the impact site.

Yet as she was causing mass destruction with her spells, a squad of humanoid robots exited stealth behind her and raised their rifles. As Hibiki turned around and gasped, the machines unloaded a storm of bullets...that found themselves deflected off a hexagonal barrier. The machines found Mitama standing before them, blade raised and glowing.

While Mitama decimated the machines that dared to attack her sister, Hibiki noticed a humanoid with a sniper rifle aim at her. Raising a triangular barrier, she barely managed to deflect the shot before the machine charged at her with a laser sword. She blocked the hit with a barrier before trying to punch it in the face - which did nothing but hurt her hand. Mitama noticed this and fired a crimson beam at the offender, melting its head off.

While the Nagoyaka sisters and Sophia were content to defend, the Radiant Swords cut a messy swath through the enemy ranks. A giant, bulky humanoid swung a chainsaw at Ken, who dodged it before slicing the weapon off it’s owner’s hand. As it raised its other chainsaw and _launched it_ at him, Yuki stepped in and knocked it aside with a burst of magical force, sending it careening off into the head of a flying, skull-like machine. The machine (or really, the pilot) backed up in shock right before Ken took its head off its shoulders with a series of slashes.

Sophia, Mitama, and Hibiki soon joined their charge, slashing wildly and firing rays of destruction in nearly every direction. All around them, the combat machines fell in their thousands, piling up around them. None of them were looking the worse for wear, so they ran headlong into the rest of the mechanical army and began destroying things.

As a giant humanoid armed with twin plasma cannons stomped into the fray, Sophia deployed a magical shield over Mitama as the machine fired directly at her. Fortunately for Mitama, the shield deflected the intense bursts of energy. The girl yelled as she dashed so fast she was almost invisible, tearing the plasma cannons off its arms before charging her blade and taking off its head.

Another machine unleashed a stream of intense flames, melting the ground while the Radiant Swords ran like the wind to avoid being incinerated. The pilot was apparently a bit abysmal at aiming, because the flames barely touched the two youth. A tank to their left unleashed a massive, constant beam of energy which swept across the battlefield...only to horizontally bisect the machine that Ken and Yuki were fighting. Seemingly unfazed, the machine re-aimed its laser at the two swordfighters - only for Sophia to blast it into slag using a charged plasma blast from her sword.

Two more humanoids approached them from opposite sides, one of which was armed with two massive glowing gauntlets. The mechanical warrior punched the air, sending a wave of force smashing into the Nanos and nearly knocking them over. As Sophia raised another shield, the barrier absorbed another force blast before the machine walked over to it and began hammering at it with its powered fists, slowly wearing away at it. While Sophia struggled, Ken and Yuki noticed that it had a single, prominent eye - so, of course, they shot it out with twin bolts of lightning. As the machine whirred and groaned in distress, Mitama sheared off its right hand before using magic to launch it straight into its damaged head. The fist smashed into its former owner, and the resulting shockwave blasted it to kingdom come.

The smaller machine, which had stood idly the whole time, suddenly came to life. Whoever designed it must have had a creative imagination, because Ken counted no less than four weapon systems attached to its body. The machine aimed its arms and fired several grapple hooks, which Ken slashed out of the air. While he was dealing with the hooks, it aimed and fired two shoulder-mounted cannons at the Starry Sword, necessitating Yuki to blast them out of the air with crimson lasers. As Yuki readied her sword and charged, the machine suddenly let out a violet pulse that seemed to intensify gravity around its body. Yuki was forced onto her knees, and while she struggled to regain her footing the robot unloaded a fusillade of rockets that swerved around before all homing in on her position.

Ken, who was physically strong enough to somewhat withstand the gravity well, raised his sword and projected a barrier over Yuki, absorbing the rockets’ explosions. Preparing a rune at his feet, he leapt high into the air before using the increased gravity to drive his sword through the machine’s head at a terrifying speed. His blade cleaved the machine cleanly in half, although Ken’s arms felt like putty afterwards.

“You okay?” Yuki panted, getting to her feet.

Ken just shrugged. “I’ll be fine.”

Hibiki was approached by a giant humanoid with what appeared to be a _rocket-propelled, plasma-charged axe_ grasped in its right hand. The machine opened several slots on its back and unloaded a hail of shrapnel bombs, which promptly burst into a storm of metallic shards. Hibiki released a blast of force to knock all of the shrapnel away from herself, only for the machine to raise its axe, engage its rocket, and swing.

The child yelped as she jumped away, the rocket-propelled axe strike carving a huge gash in the ground. Noticing a voice coming from the robot - muttering what could have only been a curse - Hibiki deduced that this one had the ability to speak, and maybe it could even hear her. Wishing to have a direct conversation with a human, she dodged another strike and leapt onto the machine’s head.

“Hi!” Hibiki shouted, peering into the glass visor that likely served its eyes. “I’m Hibiki! Nice to meet you!”

The machine backed up in surprise before waving its axes in alarm. It raised its left hand to its face to try and grab its offender, only for Hibiki to immobilize it with a magical pulse.

The child was unperturbed by this disturbance. “You can talk, right? Come on, say something! I heard you talk earlier!”

Nothing but a disgruntled murmuring as it launched more shrapnel grenades. Perhaps the pilot really was a bit of quiet one.

Mitama groaned as she dashed into action, containing the shrapnel bursts with inverted shields before tearing the machine limb from limb while it was distracted. As the metal beast collapsed, Mitama caught her falling sister and used a magical burst to completely obliterate it.

“Come on, sis! They were probably about to say something!” Hibiki complained.

Mitama sighed. “Why do you keep trying to pull crazy stunts like this?”

Her younger sister just shrugged, and Mitama simply reached the conclusion that trying to explain why that was unsafe wasn’t going to accomplish anything. With nothing better to do, the two sisters just raised their weapons and charged back into the main battlefield, where Sophia and the Radiant Swords were carving a path of ruin through their opponents.

 

The battle lasted for almost two hours, during which the awed researchers took notes and observed carefully. It would be impossible to tell what incredible feats the Nanos were pulling off if it weren’t for their equipment - in fact, without it the entire fight looked like a series of miniscule sparks going off in a writhing blob of grey powder, with the occasional tiny flash whenever that kid Hibiki nuked something.

At the end of everything, the Nanos stood panting amidst a mountain range of robotic corpses. It was a several-million to five battle, and they had won it anyways.

The voice of the Light of Courage crackled into their microphones. “How did we do?”

Tobias glanced back at the live chat, which was overflowing with praising comments of all kinds (and of course, quite a bit of salt). “You were fantastic, I assure you. And if the live chat is any indication, you have _seriously_ impressed the humans back on Earth. They love you guys!”

Yuki beamed with childlike glee. “Yay!”

Ken laughed. “That’s so cool!”

Mitama tilted her head. “Really? That’s...great!”

Hibiki grinned. “Aw, that’s nice of them!”

Sophia smiled. “We...did well!”

The researchers sighed. They remembered that despite their immense power and reality-bending capabilities, these were still _children_ they were talking about. And speaking of which, these were children that deserved what was rightly theirs. Despite the good time they had together over the last month...it was time to send them back.

 

The next couple of minutes were a blur.

The Radiant Swords and their friends had gathered all their things and stood by while Tobias and the others gave the denizens of Territe a final speech. They couldn’t make out exactly what they were saying, but judging from their expressions, they must have been admitting the truth about their world.

It would be a shocking revelation for the Nanos, but their species was a purehearted one. Ken and Yuki fully expected for the citizens of the planet to forgive their researchers within due time.

After that, the researchers said their last farewells and deposited the Nanos back at Electi Terram, which they had somehow repaired using their technology. With a final wave, the five humans disappeared from the sky for good.

The five of them waited in the sunset for minutes, then hours. Waiting for something that would signify their former Gods’ liberating of the planet. Ken and Yuki sat on the hill outside of the temple together, while Sophia questioned Mitama about what life in the outside world was like. Hibiki sat contentedly, playing a soothing melody on her flute.

Then, as the sun sank below the horizon, all five of them gasped in awe. The night sky had suddenly lit up with hundreds of sparkling motes of light, glittering in a way that would put even the most beautiful of oceans to shame. Not even the glory of the Prismatic Phoenix or the Auroran beach could compare to the brilliance that now shone back at them, congratulating them on a hard-earned victory.

“It’s...beautiful…” Mitama breathed.

“It’s so cool!” Hibiki gushed.

“Never in my life...would I have imagined...that I would see the stars.” Sophia said in awe.

Yuki beamed. “Ken...your name has meaning now!”

“Hey, it always did!” Ken protested. “Although, to be fair, I had always wanted to see these stars that Daichi had told me about when I was younger. And now...the impossible has happened. The stars shine above us for the first time in over 200 years.”

The Light of Courage just sighed and stretched out beside him, only for him to do the same. Mitama smiled and decided to leave the two together, and Hibiki was quick to follow her sister into the temple. Sophia looked like she was about to say something, but she turned away and left with the others.

The Radiant Swords stared into the star-spangled sky.

“So...we did it.” Yuki whispered. “We beat the quest. We got a happy ending.”

“Heh...so we did.” Ken replied. “It’s insane, I know.”

Yuki put a hand on his shoulder. “Well...I want to thank you. I couldn’t have completed this quest without your help and support. I really owe you one.”

Ken laughed. “Hey, that’s just what friends do. If you need to thank me for something as trivial as that, then I’ve gotta thank you too. So thank you, Yuki.”

As the two of them admired the countless flecks of radiant light that glimmered in the sky, Ken thought about the researchers, the humans, Earth, everything. They had just learned that there was an entire _planet_ supporting a whole species of beings just as large as their former Gods - only to learn from May that Earth was just _one planet_ out of innumerable ones within the universe. It really made him feel insignificant...but at the same time, it left him with a feeling of awe.

“Hey, Yuki?”

“What is it?”

Ken sighed, looking out into the distance. “The universe sure is a big place, isn’t it?”

“Tell me about it.” Yuki said as she caught onto his thought process. “We just wrap our heads around the fact that there’s a whole _planet_ of humans, and now that’s just one planet of billions? Then what does that make us?”

“I don’t know, Yuki.” Ken replied, a wistful look on his face. “Perhaps some day, we will be able to explore the cosmos just like the humans did. Perhaps we could explore everything the universe has to offer.”

Yuki looked a bit overwhelmed. “That’s a lot of exploring to do. But first, I think we should care about what’s on _this_ planet. Maybe undo some of the things humanity did wrong, and speed up the things they did right with the knowledge and freedom they gave us. _Then_ , we could expand our horizons. Maybe we could find a planet with life like ours! That would be really neat!”

Ken snorted. “Or, maybe we could get our planet destroyed by hostile aliens.”

“Oh my god, Ken. Shut up.” Yuki retorted, her smile betraying her.

“Hey...if we ever get to that point, I’m sure we’ll all be ready for it.” Ken assured her. “Not to mention, I’ll be ready for it. After all, I’ll still have my best friend by my side, right?”

Yuki smiled at him, grapsing his hand in her own. “You don’t have to ask. Although the quest is over, my promise still stands. I’ll stick by you until the very end, whichever way it comes. I stay by you, you stay by me, you got it?”

Ken sighed contentedly, returning the affectionate gesture. “You bet.”

The Radiant Swords spent the rest of the night together, marvelling at the brilliant starlight cascading from the heavens and thinking about what was written in Territe’s future. They had tried their best, as they promised, and their work had paid off. Now freed from any outside influence, they were confident that the planet could grow far past what any of the Nanos could have dreamt of. But for now, they decided to leave the distant future in the back of their minds, and focus on the present. In that moment - staring at the stars with an unlikely victory in hand and their best friend beside them - the Radiant Swords had total confidence that their future would be one shining with potential and happiness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, Matheus. Magic is indeed everything.
> 
> (sorry i had to put that in somewhere)


	11. Epilogue

_ Twenty years later… _

 

The old man closed the book and sighed contentedly as sunlight streamed through the windows of the classroom. Seated at his feet, two dozen grade-schoolers looked up at him with awe and admiration sparkling in their eyes.

This was the fifteenth class he had been to this week. Day after day, he had wandered around that school, telling the same story over and over again.

The man cleared his throat and spoke. “And that’s where the story ends...for now.”

A young boy at the back raised his hand and spoke. “Mister Wright...so all of this really happened? This was a true story you told us?”

“Yes.”

“And you were the Tobias in the story?”

Tobias nodded his head. “Yes.”

Another boy raised his hand. “If it isn’t too much...do you ever regret anything you did while serving as a researcher of Territe?”

Tobias sighed. “I regretted a lot of things I did back on Station Epsilon. The way we treated the Nanos still weighs on my conscience. It really goes to show that perhaps the way we treat non-humans is flawed. Yet the one thing I have no regrets about is setting Territe free. I truly believe that the Nanos have a brighter future because of it.”

A girl raised her hand. “But...where are the Nanos now?”

Tobias shrugged. “Nobody knows. They could be in the exact same spot we left them in, or they could be light-years away from Earth. But wherever they are...I’m sure that they are choosing their own fate, unburdened by the will of beings like ourselves that would seek to control them. Surely they are doing better than before, now that our will no longer stunts their growth.”

The teacher raised his hand and spoke. “Learning about them must have been an incredible experience for you though...right?”

“Indeed.” Tobias replied. “I am honored to have been able to meet such remarkable creatures. They were truly superhumans in every way: strength, ingenuity, and most of all kindness. Their microscopic stature merely served as a mask concealing the incredible power their species - and their planet - held within. Also, their pureheartedness made them an incredible demonstration of what a humanity free of vices could be like. Unfortunately, that is a humanity that we have been striving towards for the last couple centuries, but have still not attained.”

Silence from everyone in the classroom.

Just as a child was about to raise their hand, the lunch bell rang. All of the students promptly thanked Tobias for his story and went to go grab their lunches and play. The teacher shook his hand for the learning experience he had provided the class and left for a conference.

Tobias sighed, leaning back in his chair. The years had not been kind to him, and it now took a large amount of willpower to even get out of bed each day. Yet this was something he truly believed he needed to do. Every child that he could reach deserved to know about the Nanosapients and their story.

Rummaging around in his jacket pocket, he dug out an ancient photo and smiled sadly. Before him stood all six members of the Territe research team, standing proud and smiling like they didn’t have a care in the world.

Tobias traced his finger across each face on the photo, recalling a different memory about each of his former colleagues.

Diana had been an excellent researcher and one of the kindest ones to the Nanos. She was always looking out for them, and purposely kept her interaction with Territe to a minimum out of fear for the Nanos’ safety. Tobias wondered if that her new career as a lawyer had worked out for her.

Matheus had been his acquaintance for quite some time. As his empathy for the Nanos increased, Tobias had become unsure if he was cut out for the task. He was a very logical man, and the well-being of the Nanos was placed firmly behind his desire for knowledge. Fortunately for everyone, he had proved capable of empathizing with the tiny creatures - enough to call off the search for the knowledge that he so sorely yearned for, even if it was partially for his own interests. With what knowledge he had, Matheus had gone on and become one of the world’s most prominent physicists, travelling the world to share his discoveries with prestigious universities all over the globe.

Alice had been in turmoil for the entirety of her time at Research Station Epsilon. A nice girl at heart, she had struggled to balance her empathy for the Nanos and her duties as a researcher. She was more than willing to shirk her research if it meant protecting the Nanos - a trait that Tobias had admired greatly, since he had been incapable of doing the same for the denizens of Territe. Alice had gone on to get a degree in biology and was now finishing medical school, in hopes that she could become a doctor.

May’s face brought up simpler memories. She was just a young child who had wished to meet aliens for the first time. She followed her orders with unquestioning obedience, but it was clear as day that she just wanted to be friends with these creatures. It was a shame that the situation was so complicated, otherwise she and their tiny research subjects could have been great friends. The last time Tobias had heard from her, she had finished university and had gone on to the same medical school as her friend Alice.

As for Michael...the memories were bittersweet. Michael had been a troubled individual before Tobias had found him. He had been smart, meek, academically gifted, athletic...yet everyone he met just took advantage of his nature for their own ends. He had been wandering the world without any true friends or companions to call his own, until Tobias found him and invited him to the space station due to his family’s history as Territe researchers. He had showed a lot of potential on the station, yet a lifetime of exploitation had given him a case of megalomania and an ambition to rule over others. The others were very intolerant of his antics - not to mention the actions of his grandfather - and as such didn’t treat him as well as Tobias had hoped, not helped by his rather short fuse.   


Tobias should have done something earlier, but said treatment only caused Michael’s desire for power to spiral upwards. Before he knew it, he was too late. Michael had backed the metaphorical rattlesnake into a corner and paid a dear price for it.

Yet as he looked fondly at the picture, he had to admit that the time he spent researching the Nanos was still what he would consider to be the highlight of his life. As such, regardless of everything bad that had happened there, he was willing to accept all the good that came with it as well.

Tobias sighed, feeling the years creep up on him yet again. He knew that he didn’t have a lot of time left in his life. But he was satisfied with the life he had lived - after all, he had helped raise an incredible species, and helped free said species from the grasp of humankind. Laying back in his chair to take a short nap, Tobias looked into the cloudless sky and wondered where Territe was now. More importantly...he wondered what had become of those two kids that had showed him the true potential of their species. He hoped that they had gone on to live a happy life. After what they had been through...they deserved it.

 

The young man closed the book and smiled happily at his small audience while sunlight streamed through the open windows.

“That was such a cool story!” Yu Hoshizora exclaimed, his eyes gleaming with excitement. “You and mom are so amazing!”

His sister, Kana Hoshizora, nodded vigorously. “You two must have been incredible to get through all of that! I really wish I could grow up to be like you guys!”

Ken Hoshizora, now a young man, laughed cheerily. During the twenty years that had passed since the freeing of their planet, he had learned firsthand that Nanos his age didn’t actually age particularly fast. Besides his slightly more mature physique, he had mostly remained as the happy youth who had gone on an impossible quest twenty years ago. 

“To be honest, I don’t know how we did it. I’m sure that it was because me and Yuki stuck by and helped one another at every turn. We just tried our best and hoped that fortune favored us...which it did. Don’t fret, kids. I’m certain that you two will grow up just fine. In fact, you might even become better than we ever were!”

“Really?” Kana asked excitedly.

A voice spoke from behind them. “It’s perfectly possible, if you’re willing to try hard enough.” 

All three of them turned around to see Yuki no Hikari smiling back at them. Much like Ken, she had barely changed since their quest. As the two kids broke into wide grins and hugged their mother, she clapped Ken on the shoulder. “Hey, Ken! I can’t remember clearly, but isn’t it our anniversary today?”

Ken laughed. “You forgot something like that? Why does that feel like classic Yuki?”

Yuki groaned. “Ken, shut up.” 

Then she laughed. “But never change.”

Indeed, Ken would never forget that fateful day. After nine more years of happiness and companionship, the Radiant Swords had proposed to each other at the exact same time, in front of the sunset-bathed temple at Electi Terram. When they had told their parents about it and asked for their approval, they were surprised to see that they simply nodded and congratulated them. It was almost like they had been expecting this...somehow. How they had done that was still beyond the Radiant Swords.

The two heroes had a happy wedding and settled down in Electi Terram, which had quickly become a huge village bustling with life. Soon, all their friends and family from all over Territe had settled down with them, and the two of them had decided to start a family of their own. Their eleven-year-old son Yu and their ten-year-old daughter Kana were the spitting image of their respective parents, and they were the sweetest kids they could have ever asked for. The family couldn’t have been happier.

Staring outside at the village they resided in, they still marveled at how fast it had grown. With all the knowledge the researchers had given them, the Nanos had quickly learned the ropes of their technology and built up their world with surprising haste. However, many Nanos - including themselves - still preferred a traditional approach to things.

Calling their children over, the Radiant Swords decided to go on a leisurely stroll through Electi Terram. Exiting the small house they had built, they passed by a grassy field and found Mitama training a couple of Nanos in what appeared to be swordplay. Among her trainees were Joseph and Anthony, who had been convinced to learn how to use the traditional weapons by none other than the Radiant Swords themselves. Mitama, being the excellent mage/swordfighter hybrid she was, had served as Yu and Kana’s primary combat tutor during their growth - whenever, their parents weren’t around to teach them personally, of course.

Standing beside her sister, Hibiki leaned against a tree, practicing a melody on her flute. Despite having mentally matured quite a bit, she was still the most childish of the Radiant Swords’ friends, and as such related to Kana and Yu on a personal level. The kids were great friends with her, and Hibiki would entertain them as much as she could - either with her magic, music, or even stories about her life as a test subject.

To be totally honest, the Radiant Swords weren’t sure if those stories were appropriate for children. Hibiki recalled her experiences with total nonchalance, but they were still quite gruesome at times. They weren’t sure if their kids would want to hear about things like how Hibiki voluntarily cut off and regrew her own arm at the Gods’ request, or how she had needed to manually cycle air into her lungs while they recovered from getting punctured by Mechanoids.

The Radiant Swords waved, and all of them waved back before resuming their training - well, except for Hibiki, who resumed her music instead.

They turned a corner, only to sigh in both confusion and pride. The Radiant Swords didn’t know what the researchers had told the rest of their planet, but apparently everyone hailed them as heroes for freeing their planet. While they supposed it was kind of fair, they really didn’t think they deserved such a huge honor as the one humankind had placed upon them. And for some reason, the citizens of Electi Terram had decided to build a metallic statue in their likeness, which now stood before them. Yu and Kana stared at it and laughed with glee that their parents were famous, while Yuki and Ken tried to explain that the statue was a bit unnecessary.

Standing at the statue’s base was none other than Sophia, reading from a large book to entertain a group of children seated before her. Twenty years of social life had made up for her ten-ish years of isolation, and she had now become totally accustomed to life with other people. In fact, she had even picked up hobbies such as public speaking, literature, and poetry - even working with Hibiki to write songs. She had also taken up a job as a librarian, having converted the ruins of Unit Alpha into her home and library. 

With the amount of knowledge she had to share, it was no surprise that Yu and Kana had begun to see her as a tutor figure - a role that Sophia was more than happy to entertain. Also, as the town librarian, all of the kids loved her - and since she loved the kids back, here she was reading stories to them. 

As the Radiant Swords passed her, she turned towards them and said her greetings, to which the four of them responded in kind. Not wanting to disturb her, the family quickly hurried out of the clearing, much to Sophia’s surprise.

They bumped into Magnus, who greeted them with a bow. The Magnum leader had been convinced to share his secrets with the rest of Territe, having started a program to educate any willing Nanos in the art of magic. Standing beside him was none other than Julius, who had been so impressed by the Radiant Swords’ magic in the defense of Eulogia that he had decided to learn it for himself. While not everyone was inherently capable of mastering such power, everyone could still learn it. Julius himself was one of Magnus’ finer pupils, having mastered decently potent magic in merely a few weeks.

At some prodding from their parents, Yu and Kana demonstrated some of their magic to the Magnum leader, sending brilliant flares into the air that exploded into multicolored sparks. As the six of them were enveloped in a iridescent flurry of light, Magnus nodded in approval and praised them, while Julius clapped enthusiastically.

As the two men walked off to go get some food, the family walked over to a restaurant, only to find all of their parents talking and eating lunch together. As their kids happily ran over to hug their grandparents, Ken and Yuki discussed their lives with their parents. Despite what it might imply, raising a family had been surprisingly easy. Yu and Kana were diligent children, and were mostly capable of taking care of themselves even at such a young age. Daichi and Sachi jokingly wished that raising Ken had been like that, eliciting a stammered response from the Starry Sword. Ai and Haru just told their daughter that they were proud, causing Yuki to run up and give them a hug.

Afterwards, they returned to their house. Yuki cooked up another fantastic meal for them, and their two kids had requested that they duel in the field.

“We were just outside!” Ken complained.

“Yeah, but we want to go out again!” Yu pleaded.

“Come on! Please?” Kana asked.imploringly.

Yuki looked helplessly at Ken, who had apparently given up on resisting. For powerful fighters who had pulled through an impossible quest through sheer determination, they seemed to have a will as strong as wet paper when it came to their kids.

So, five minutes later, Ken and Yuki sat together at the edge of a wide field while their kids enthusiastically duelled in the grass, slashing at each other while firing off bright sparks of magic. This was exactly what had happened with Ken and Yuki when they were that age, down to the weapons their children were using - a shortsword for Yu, and a katana for Kana. All of their friends and family had inexplicably gathered at the location to watch, which was both heartwarming and kind of concerning to the Radiant Swords.

Ken sighed. “Seeing those two happy really lightens my heart a bit. I remember when we dueled just like them. Our kids deserve the same happiness that we experienced when we were younger.”

“Tell me about it.” Yuki replied. “This is really the best thing I could have ever asked for in my life. Living together, surrounded by our friends and family, and raising two kids as nice as Yu and Kana...what’s more to want?”

Anthony elbowed Joseph. “See what I meant with those pendants?”

The Auroran mayor sighed. “Point taken, Anthony.”

Mitama had a hand on her sister’s shoulder. After being reunited with her beloved sister and the happiness of society, Mitama had brightened up considerably - although it seemed the light in her eyes would never be restored. “You know, Hibiki, those two kind of remind me of you when you were younger. Except, well, you were way more hyperactive and difficult to deal with.”

“Hey!” Hibiki protested. In contrast to her sister, Hibiki had mellowed out a bit - not that she had lost her innocent, childish demeanor. “Well...I guess you’re kind of right, sis. I can see a lot of myself in those two kids. It’s a good feeling!”

Sophia stood behind them. “It’s really nice to see Ken and Yuki raise a family like this. The memories of my family were happy ones, and it makes me wish that everyone ever born can experience something akin to what I did in my youth.”

Behind her, Magnus smiled proudly. Needless to say, his and Sophia’s reunion had been a tearful one, but they were now back to normal - a loving father caring for his loving daughter. “Aw, you’re being too sweet. You were such a great kid. It was a real shame we were separated so early, otherwise said memories would be even nicer.”

Julius stood beside his tutor. “Family is indeed a treasure to cherish.”

“For sure.” Daichi and Sachi agreed in unison.

Ai and Haru nodded in agreement.

Panting and sweating, Yu and Kana ran up to their parents. Apparently Yu had won, since he was beaming from ear to ear. Kana, despite being the loser, still had a sheepish grin on her face.

“I won!” Yu sang. “Did I do well?”

“That was some impressive fighting there, Yu.” Ken offered, prompting a flying tackle hug from his son. Ken laughed and ruffled Yu’s hair. “You did great.”

Yuki knelt down to Kana’s eye level. “Don’t worry, you did great. Ken used to always beat me in our duels...but I eventually got better and defeated him. The same should apply to you. Someday, I believe that you’ll be able to win. You have my confidence.”

“Thanks!” Kana told her mother gratefully. “By the way, you told us that you were great fighters back when you were quest partners! Can you show us what your duels were like? Mitama told us that we should ask you!”

The Radiant Swords shot a look at Mitama, who shrugged innocently.

Hibiki laughed.

The two of them sighed. “Alright.”

So, the Radiant Swords walked onto the field and put themselves about ten meters apart. As the rest of their friends and family watched and cheered, Ken and Yuki drew their weapons and held them in a ready position.

Before anything else, though, the two of them stepped forward, stopped, and bowed to each other before raising their swords again. As their eyes glowed with power and their blades crackled, both of them felt a sudden surge of nostalgia. 

Suddenly, they were young again. Ken stood in front of a fountain with his blade in hand, while Yuki held her katana in a guarding position. The two children clashed, laughing all the while as they shot friendly taunts at each other.

A gentle breeze snapped the two of them back to reality.

During moments like this, where they stood against each other with their blades in hand, the memories of their youth and their quest seemed like they had just happened yesterday. It was a bizarre, heartwarming, and wistful feeling that left them longing to experience those childhood memories again - despite the hardships they entailed.

The Radiant Swords sighed contentedly as they felt tears come to their eyes.

Then they lunged.

 

_ The achievements of Ken Hoshizora and Yuki no Hikari were forever immortalized in Nano history as the actions which had freed their planet, opening the way to a bright and shining future to Territe. _

_ The Radiant Swords were content to live the rest of their lives in peace, raising their loving children and having fun together with their family and friends. While the planet rapidly advanced around them, they never lost touch with their traditions and swordplay. _

_ Nanos often live to be quite old. Even as Ken and Yuki aged, they still kept living life to the fullest. Yu and Kana were quick to follow in their footsteps, becoming excellent fighters, mages, blacksmiths and cooks. _ _   
_

_ Long before the tale of the Radiant Swords finally ended, Territe had already moved on from the events that had defined it in its early stages of life. The Nanosapients rapidly advanced and defined their own lives, instead of having them defined for them. _

_ And eventually, they would forget about the Gods that had shaped their world. _

_ But the Radiant Swords and their closest allies would never forget. _

 

**The End**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so ends my first original fiction!
> 
> I started writing this on September 19, 2017, and ended up taking about 239 days to complete - not counting the time I spent constantly editing it.
> 
> Suggestions and comments are welcome. I would like to continue writing in the future, and possibly even make spin-offs of this story. Feedback would be appreciated.


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